Ottawa's City Council Voted Unanimously to Strip Trump's Name from a Street
Ottawa's city council voted unanimously to begin stripping Donald Trump's name from a street in Canada's capital, and the move lands in the middle of the most tense stretch in U.S.-Canada relations in decades.
The street is Trump Avenue, a residential road in Ottawa's Central Park neighborhood. It has carried the president's name for roughly 25 years, since a time when Trump was best known as a New York real estate developer and television personality. According to Councillor Tim Tierney, it is the only place in Canada named directly after Donald Trump. Other Canadian locations with "Trump" in their names were not named after him.
The council's vote on Wednesday, August 26, is a first step, not a final decision. Under Ottawa's rules, more than half of the residents living on the street must support a change before it can move forward. If they do, the new name has to go through its own public engagement process. Tierney said the change would not happen overnight, and nothing is expected before Ottawa's municipal elections at the end of October.
The timing drew attention on both sides of the border. One day after the vote, President Trump signed an executive order directing the U.S. government to refer to Lake Ontario as "Lake America." The order echoes his earlier decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America." Map services now show different names for the lake depending on which side of the border the user is on.
The street vote also follows a summer of failed trade negotiations between Ottawa and Washington. Tariffs took effect, Canada answered with tariffs of its own, and the two countries have been locked in a tariff dispute since. President Trump has also repeatedly said he would like to see Canada become the 51st U.S. state, comments that have angered many Canadians.
Tierney said the street issue moved back to the "front burner" because of the lake controversy. At the same time, he described the renaming fight as a distraction from the far bigger issue of trade and tariffs. He urged leaders in both capitals to "stop with the lame name game" and return to the negotiating table.
Residents and councillors have already floated replacement names. The list includes Obama Avenue, Ontario Avenue, Canada Avenue, Beaver Avenue, Gulf of Mexico Avenue, Canada Goose Avenue, Pelosi Avenue and Taco Avenue, a nod to the "Trump Always Chickens Out" nickname used by some market watchers.
This is not the first time the question has come up. In 2021, the 62 households on the street were asked whether they wanted a new name. The result was a dead heat: 21 voted yes, 21 voted no and 20 did not vote at all. Tierney said some of the no votes came from people who simply did not want the hassle of changing their address, not necessarily from Trump supporters.
That split is why the final outcome is still open. The council has spoken with one voice, but the decision now goes back to the people who actually live on Trump Avenue.
Do you support Ottawa's decision? YES OR NO?
