Ford's $25K Lake Ontario sign a costly way to send Trump a message: Taxpayers Federation

Ontario Premier Doug Ford spent $25,000 on a new Lake Ontario sign. And while there are many reasons to be angry with the Trump administration, “there are a lot cheaper ways to send a message to the president,” Noah Jarvis, Ontario director at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), told National Post.

“The president himself does it all the time with his tweets and his posts on Truth Social,” Jarvis added.

The sign, which reads “Lake Ontario, now and always” in both English and French, was unveiled in Winona, Ont. — one of the areas covered by the Hamilton East—Stoney Creek byelection taking place on Thursday.

It was erected just days after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario to “Lake America” in U.S. government records and maps, which has also since been adopted by both Google and Apple Maps for users in the U.S.

Just this past weekend, Trump shared several posts criticizing Canada, including claiming that the U.S. loses $60 billion a year to Canada, that Canada is “ripping off” the U.S. and suggesting that all Canadian companies doing business with America should move to the U.S.

He also shared a screenshot of the new “Lake America” name on Google Maps and an AI video of himself replacing a “Welcome to Lake Ontario” sign with one that reads “Welcome to Lake America” underneath a U.S. flag.

Meanwhile, voters in the area where Ford’s $25,000 sign was erected have started heading to the polls to elect a new MPP, after Progressive Conservative Neil Lumsden retired on Aug. 4. It’s one of three provincial byelections held on the same day, with the others in the Toronto ridings of Scarborough Southwest and York—Simcoe. They come after the Liberals won three byelections that took place on Monday.

When asked if the new Lake Ontario sign might be a strategic move by Ford ahead of the vote, Jarvis said he couldn’t comment on the motivation, but that “when public funds are being used for advertising, the government in power needs to make sure that it is not being used for political reasons.”

It’s an issue the Canadian Taxpayers Federation has previously commented on, after the Ontario government spent a record $103.5 million on advertising in 2023-24. Federal director Franco Terrazzano said at the time that “the rules need to change because politicians shouldn’t be allowed to spend taxpayer money on ads to promote themselves.”

National Post has reached out to the PC Party of Ontario for comment.

The sign’s price tag was first reported by Global News on Tuesday and later confirmed in an email from the premier’s office Wednesday morning to CTV News .

It’s Lake Ontario, now and always. pic.twitter.com/KNahtPAMeJ

— Doug Ford (@fordnation) August 29, 2026

Unveiling the sign in a video posted on X on Saturday, the Ontario premier said, “You may have heard that President Trump is trying to rename this lake all because he doesn’t like Ontario and Canada standing up for ourselves.”

Ford continued: “Long before President Trump, this lake was called Lake Ontario. And long after President Trump is gone, it will still be called Lake Ontario. But just in case President Trump or anyone else forgets, we have set up a sign to remind them, it’s Lake Ontario now and forever.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney also responded to Trump’s actions shortly after the executive order was signed, explaining on social media that the name Lake Ontario is more than 400 years old and predates both Canadian Confederation and the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

“Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario – then, now and always,” he added.

And several U.S. politicians condemned Trump’s executive order , too, including former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who simply wrote, “It’s Lake Ontario,” in a post on X , and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who said, “The American people don’t want to rename Lake Ontario Lake America.”

No, President Trump. The American people don’t want to rename Lake Ontario Lake America.

They want affordable healthcare, childcare, housing, education & nutrition assistance — all of which you have massively cut in order to pay for your $1 trillion tax break to the top 1%. https://t.co/G6dmmW1ITg

— Sen. Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) August 27, 2026

The new sign is the latest move in Ford’s combative stance against the U.S. and its president after trade negotiations collapsed last month.

He previously told Toronto radio station Newstalk 1010 that Trump could “kiss my ass,” to which the U.S. president responded with a Truth Social post in which he called Ford “flunky” and compared him unfavourably to his late brother, former Toronto mayor Rob Ford.

Later that day, while speaking at a press conference in Hamilton, Ford refused to back away from his blunt language, saying that he had “plenty of real estate” on his behind for Trump to find a place to kiss.

When asked about Trump’s criticism, Ford said: “I’ve dealt with guys like that my whole life,” before directing a blunt message to the U.S. president: “You’re a loser.”

However, the Ontario premier said at a news conference later that week that things had since “simmered down” between himself and Trump, adding that “it was a heated day for both him and I.”

Nevertheless, Ford’s tough stance on the trade war appears to have lent him a boost in support , with a recent Liaison Strategies poll showing that his approval rating has sharply rebounded from 24 per cent in July to 36 per cent at the end of August. The poll also found that Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives now lead the Liberals in the province by four points.

But the national picture is very different. A separate Liaison Strategies poll published Aug. 31 showed the Liberals opening a 17-point lead over the Conservatives, with Carney’s approval rating rising by five points to 64 per cent.

Conservative support, however, had fallen below 30 per cent nationally.

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