Ottawa city council to consider motion to rename Trump Avenue

Ottawa city council to consider motion to rename Trump Avenue

Local city councillor says he would lead public process to find new name

Future of Ottawa's Trump Avenue could be decided later this month

Ottawa city council is scheduled to vote on another proposal to rename a street named after U.S. President Donald Trump more than 20 years ago.

River ward Coun. Riley Brockington made a notice of motion to change the name of Trump Avenue at Wednesday morning's meeting, saying Trump does not deserve the honour in light of his repeated threats to Canada.

The vote on his motion is likely to come at the next city council meeting, currently scheduled for Sept. 23.

There is no new name on the table yet. If the motion passes, that's likely to come next year.

Brockington said he would lead a public consultation process to select a new one with residents of the street in the Central Park neighbourhood off Merivale Road.

The veteran councillor, who is running unopposed this city election, has called the name an embarrassment.

"If we were to commemoratively name the street today for this individual he would fail basically every criteria, so it's time to honour someone else," Brockington told reporters.

"It's offensive to have his name on a street in the City of Ottawa — the nation's capital — and it's time to remove that name."

His motion comes after Trump imposed tariffs on many billions of dollars worth of Canadian goods and signed an order to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America. Canada has retaliated with tariffs on an equivalent value of U.S. imports.

Ottawa businesses brace as counter-tariffs hit

The Central Park neighbourhood in Brockington's ward includes streets with New York City-themed names like Grammercy Park and Staten Way. At the time the neighbourhood was built in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Trump was simply a celebrity real estate mogul.

A previous effort to rename Trump Avenue in 2021 fell through after a consultation found residents were split on the idea.

The nays Ave. it: Ottawa's Trump Avenue to keep its name

But as Trump's trade war against Canada heated up, Brockington said last month that the time for debate was over and it was finally time to rename the street.

He said he has received an "overwhelming level of correspondence from literally around the world" in the weeks since.

Brockington's notice of motion says the public consultation process could result in a name that retains the New York City theme, but wouldn't have to.

His motion calls for the new name to come to council no later than the first half of next year.

CBC News surveyed a half dozen city councillors after Wednesday's meeting and found strong support for Brockington's proposal, with only one undecided. Mayor Mark Sutcliffe is also supportive.

"As long as the residents of Trump Avenue are consulted and they have a say in this, because it's them that will have the administrative burden of changing their driver's licence and contacting all their contacts," he said.

He said residents will have a chance to weigh in prior to the vote by reaching out to their city councillor.

Arthur White-Crummey is the municipal affairs reporter at CBC Ottawa. He grew up in Ottawa, spent years in Saskatchewan covering the courts, city hall and the provincial legislature, before moving back to his hometown. You can reach him at arthur.white-crummey@cbc.ca