- Ottawa council voted unanimously to rename Trump Avenue to TACO Avenue or Obama Avenue
- Trump Avenue has borne the US president’s name for about 25 years in Ottawa’s Central Park area
- TACO means “Trump Always Chickens Out,” a nickname used by Wall Street critics of Trump
A city council in Canada's Ottawa is planning to rechristen a street named after Donald Trump to 'Taco Avenue'. In a unanimous vote on Wednesday (Aug 26), Ottawa City Council took the first step in renaming Trump Avenue, a residential street in the Central Park neighbourhood of Ottawa that has carried the US president's name for roughly 25 years. The decision comes days after Trump announced that he was renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America.
Apart from "TACO Avenue," the council is also considering "Obama Avenue" as an option for the name change, according to a report in CNN. While Obama has been a former president and critical of Trump, "Taco" is a moniker reportedly given by Wall Street to Trump, meaning "Trump Always Chickens Out” for his frequent changing of policy.
According to Ottawa City Councillor Tim Tierney, Canada has numerous places bearing the Trump name, ranging from lakes to islands and a creek. However, Trump Avenue is the only one actually named after Donald Trump.
Another Ottawa councillor, Riley Brockington, said he plans to work with residents to rename Trump Avenue following the city's October election. Brockington described the street's current name as an embarrassment.
Notably, this is not the first instance when the residents on Trump Avenue have attempted to change the name. In 2021, 62 households were asked whether they wanted to rename it. 21 voted yes, 21 voted no, and 20 did not vote at all.
Lake Ontario or Lake America?
Earlier this week, Trump signed an executive order in the White House to rename Lake Ontario. The move came amid a spiralling trade war between the world's largest economy and its northern neighbour.
"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," the 80-year-old Republican told reporters in the Oval Office.
The name change, which has miffed Canadian lawmakers, mirrors Trump's changing of the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in January 2025.
"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 said.
