TORONTO — Ontario taxpayers spent $25,000 to print and erect the oversized “Lake Ontario, Now and Always” sign Premier Doug Ford unveiled Saturday, his office confirmed Wednesday.The figure was confirmed to CTV News by the premier’s office. Ford pulled a tarp off the bilingual billboard at Fifty Point Conservation Area in Winona, on the Grimsby–Hamilton shoreline, two days after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered American agencies to call the lake “Lake America.”The sign is 24 feet by 12 feet and stands on six-foot legs, about 18 feet high. Fifty Point is Hamilton Conservation Authority land. Ford, wearing a Canada Soccer jersey, was joined by Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff.“Just in case President Trump or anyone forgets, we’ve set up a sign to remind them it’s Lake Ontario now and forever,” Ford said in a video posted to X. He later told reporters, “President Trump can call it whatever he wants, but I can tell you the rest of the world will always call it Lake Ontario.”.Ontario websites show ‘Lake America’ after Google follows Trump order.Trump’s Aug. 27 order applies only to U.S. federal records and maps. It has no force in Canada. Prime Minister Mark Carney said the same day the name is more than 400 years old, from the Wendat word Ontari’io, and that it persists “then, now and always.” Ford’s slogan follows that line.Google now shows “Lake America” to users in the United States and Lake Ontario to users in Canada. Apple’s U.S. web maps have also flipped. MapQuest has refused. The Western Standard reported Sunday that some Ontario and federal websites briefly displayed the American label after pulling map tiles that were not locked to Canada.
