Ontario premier answers Trump’s ‘Lake America’ with giant ‘Lake Ontario’ sign

TORONTO (AP) — Ontario Premier Doug Ford answered President Donald Trump’s “Lake America” decree Saturday with a billboard-sized message on the Canadian shoreline — “Lake Ontario. Now and Always” — as Canadian leaders met the move with ridicule rather than outrage.

Wearing a Team Canada soccer jersey, Ford unveiled the sign near Grimsby, Ontario, and posed for photographs. The 24-by-12-foot (7.3-by-3.6 meter) sign stands on 6-foot (1.8-meter) legs, putting its top about 18 feet (5.5 meters) above the ground — roughly two stories high. The message is repeated in French.

The display followed Trump’s executive order directing U.S. federal agencies to call Lake Ontario “Lake America.” After months of tariffs, threats to make Canada the 51st U.S. state and personal attacks on its leaders, the reaction in Canada has mixed defiance with mockery.

Ford said Trump was trying to rename the lake because Ontario and Canada were “standing up for ourselves” and argued the name would outlast the president.

“Long after President Trump is gone, it will still be called Lake Ontario,” Ford said in a video posted on social media.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew compared Trump to an aging rock band trying to revive an old hit.

“You know when, like, a rock band is really over the hill and you see them like in a casino playing some song from like 50 years ago, I think that’s the part of Donald Trump’s presidency we’re at now — like he thought he had a real hit, a real golden oldie, with the Gulf of Mexico,” Kinew said, referring to Trump's executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. “And he’s trying to bring back that, and he’s trying to play the hits for his base. But I think everybody here thinks it’s a little sad and it’s not his best work.”

The mockery was not limited to politicians. Canadian historian Robert Bothwell was even more scathing.

“The greatest country on earth takes this moron seriously?” Bothwell said.

But Bothwell said the dispute was more serious than the jokes, arguing Trump’s broader aim was “to subordinate Canada and at best make it a colony, at worst absorb it into the United States.”

Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, said Trump “would like Canada to act like a vassal state, but it refuses to do so. That irritates him.”

The dispute comes as relations between the longtime allies worsen over trade. Negotiations collapsed last week, both governments accused the other of making late demands, and Canada announced retaliatory tariffs set to take effect next month.

Trump’s order also came amid an escalating war of words with Ford. In an interview with The Associated Press earlier this week, Ford said Ronald Reagan would be “throwing up” over Trump’s tariff policies and “disgusted with President Trump.”

Trump fired back by dismissing Ford’s comments as “bluster,” calling him Prime Minister Mark Carney’s “flunky” and mocking him as the “less charismatic, intelligent, and overall unimpressive brother” of the late Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.

Trump continued promoting the new name Saturday, reposting a meme showing Canada geese with Trump-like blond hair firing rifles as they “protected” Lake America.

Trump has repeatedly used maps to make political points. A “Gulf of America” map was displayed for a time beside the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, and Trump has posted images depicting Canada as part of the United States or as the 51st state.

The name Lake Ontario comes from the Huron Indigenous people’s word “oniatarí:io,” which means “lake of shining waters.” The Canadian province of Ontario, founded in 1867, took its name from the lake.

Wendat Nation Grand Chief Pierre Picard, whose people historically lived from the St. Lawrence Valley to the Great Lakes and whose language gave Lake Ontario its name, called Trump’s move an attempt to erase Indigenous history.

“I want to tell him that it is unacceptable for us, as a nation, to have a president who can eradicate our history, our culture and our identity,” Picard said.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the move, noting the lake’s Indigenous roots and that the name predates both the Canadian Confederation and the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Trump cannot require Canada to adopt the new name.

President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, right, and Niagara West Member of Provincial Parliament Sam Oosterhoff unveil a sign for Lake Ontario at the Fifty Point Conservation Area in Grimsby, Ontario, Canada, on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026. (Keito Newman/The Canadian Press via AP)

The Toronto skyline is seen across Lake Ontario as Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks during an interview prior to the unveiling of a sign for Lake Ontario at Fifty Point Conservation Area in Grimsby, Ontario, Canada, on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026. (Keito Newman/The Canadian Press via AP)

A person takes a picture of the newly unveiled sign for Lake Ontario at Fifty Point Conservation Area in Grimsby, Ontario, Canada, on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026. (Keito Newman/The Canadian Press via AP)

Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveils a sign for Lake Ontario at Fifty Point Conservation Area in Grimsby, Ontario, Canada, on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026. (Keito Newman/The Canadian Press via AP)

LONDON (AP) — Chelsea made official the signing of Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez on Sunday.

The English club said the 33-year-old goalkeeper, who won the World Cup in 2022, has signed a three-year deal, joining from Aston Villa.

“Coming to Chelsea, for me and my family, was an easy decision to make and I’m just over the moon. I can’t wait to get started,” Martínez said. “I want to be successful here. I’m someone who wants to win at everything I do and I want to bring that here to this football club because it’s a football club that wins titles, so I think it’s a good match.”

Martínez is set to take over the starting goalkeeping spot in Xabi Alonso's squad, which saw Robert Sánchez struggle again in the team's Premier League opener against Fulham.

Villa earlier this month signed U.S.-born Japan goalkeeper Zion Suzuki from Parma, opening the doors for Martínez's departure.

Martínez has been Argentina’s regular starter since 2021, earning 67 caps. He also helped his country win the Copa America in 2021 and 2024, and reach this year's World Cup final.

Martinez won the Yashin Trophy, awarded to the world’s best-performing goalkeeper, at the 2023 and 2024 Ballon d’Or ceremonies.

He made 256 appearances for Villa across six seasons and won the Europa League in May.

"I’m all passion and I play with my heart. I will give 100 per cent every game, every training session to make the club, my teammates and the supporters proud," he said.

Martínez started his career in the youth squads of Argentine club Independiente and joined Arsenal in 2010, at age 17. After several loan stints, he became a regular for Arsenal in the 2019-20 season, starting the last 11 matches and winning the FA Cup.

See AP’s full soccer coverage here

FILE - Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez reacts after Spain had a goal disallowed during the World Cup final soccer match between Spain and Argentina in East Rutherford, N.J., near New York, Sunday, July 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)