City of Ottawa to rename Trump Avenue as trade war continues

OTTAWA — A residential street in Ottawa bearing the last name of U.S. President Donald Trump will be given a new monniker after the city council voted in favour of a motion to start the renaming process.

Coun. Riley Brockington introduced a motion that was carried Wednesday to rename Trump Avenue, in Ottawa’s Central Park neighbourhood.

The area, just southwest of the city’s core, was developed in the 1990s and 2000s with a New York City theme, and multiple streets pay homage to the city with names like Central Park Drive, Staten Way and Grammercy Park.

“Since I came to office, there have been a number of requests from Trump Avenue residents, residents within Central Park and across our city and frankly beyond that would like to see the City of Ottawa engage in a street renaming process,” he said Wednesday.

“I could speak at great length why I believe strongly it is time to rename Trump Avenue, but I don’t want to give a platform anymore to the person who is on the current street sign blades.”

Brockington says the name change represents “a new beginning” and he wants the community to choose the new street name.

Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said during a press conference Wednesday that he doesn’t like the idea of anything in the city being named after Trump, who he said has demonstrated hostility towards Canada.

The Canadian Geographical Names Database says there are eight geographic places that currently hold official status in Canada named “Trump.”

A Change.org petition launched last month is calling on the province of Ontario to rename Trump Lake to “Lake Canada.” So far, 772 people have signed the petition.

Earlier this week, a motion made by the deputy mayor of Iqaluit to rename the city’s sewage lagoon to “Trump Lake” did not get passed because nobody would second it.

Kim Smith said the goal of her motion was to acknowledge that residents are feeling pressure from the trade war and the war in Iran.

“Every day, we tune into the news and it’s just more and more of this awfulness all the time,” she said. “I really wanted to just find a fun way to acknowledge how residents are feeling and also give them something to laugh at.”

In recent weeks, Trump has hit Canada with 50 per cent tariffs on an array of goods and is set to completely block imports of others later this month.

The president also signed an order to identify and remove products of Canadian origin from U.S. government procurement systems.

After a trade deal with Canada fell apart in August, Trump also signed an order to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2026.

-With files from Kelly Geraldine Malone

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press