A viral report claimed that the Ottawa City Council voted to rename Trump Avenue, floating potential monikers such as Obama Avenue, Canada Avenue, and Taco Avenue.
OTTAWA, CANADA: Amid escalating trade tensions between the United States and Canada—fueled by repeated remarks from President Donald Trump—social media users began sharing rumors that Canada was planning to strip the US president’s name from a local street.
The online chatter quickly gained traction, triggering the need for a closer look at the facts.
The Claim: Canada is renaming a street named after Trump
According to widely shared posts, the Ottawa City Council unanimously approved initial steps to rename Trump Avenue, a residential road that has held Donald Trump’s name for roughly 25 years.
The viral posts further suggested that replacement options included Obama Avenue, Ontario Avenue, Canada Avenue, Beaver Avenue, Gulf of Mexico Avenue, Canada Goose Avenue, Pelosi Avenue, and Taco Avenue.
While some social media users mocked the purported list or accepted the rumor at face value, others expressed skepticism, prompting a verification of the story.
Fact Check: The claim is largely accurate
The core of the rumor is indeed true. On Wednesday, August 26, the Ottawa City Council took its first unanimous step toward renaming Trump Avenue—a residential street located in Ottawa’s Central Park neighborhood—following Trump’s decision to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America.
While council discussions have included possibilities like ‘Obama Avenue’ and ‘Taco Avenue,’ the inclusion of playful names like Beaver Avenue, Gulf of Mexico Avenue, Canada Goose Avenue, and Pelosi Avenue turned out to be exaggerated additions meant to drive online engagement.
City Councillor Tim Tierney noted that while Canada features several geographic locations bearing the name “Trump”—such as lakes, islands, and a creek—this particular street is the only one explicitly named after the US president.
“Right now, I think our focus has to remain on trade and tariffs, something that this is just nothing more than a distraction from,” Tierney told the Independent. “We see the president doing something the same and it’s tired. Stop with the lame name game and let’s get back to the table.”
Trump renames Lake Ontario to Lake America
The municipal council’s move follows an executive order issued by Donald Trump that officially redesignated Lake Ontario as Lake America.
“We’re going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario effective immediately to Lake America. The Canadian officials have treated us very badly. They’re nasty people,” Trump told reporters.
“The lake change, Lake of America, was something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, actually. As you know, we took something called the Gulf of Mexico, we changed it, and now it’s very routinely the Gulf of America,” Trump added.