Time for Ottawa to rename 'embarrassing' Trump Avenue, ward councillor says

A file photo of a Trump Avenue street sign. Photo by MICHEL COMTE /AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

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River Coun. Riley Brockington, who introduced a notice of motion to rename the street at the Sept. 9 council session, said in an interview he was “embarrassed” to have a street named after U.S. President Donald Trump in the nation’s capital and in his ward.

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With an escalating trade war and the president renewing a war of words, memes and threats against Canada — including an executive order to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America — Brockington said the timing was right to dump Trump Avenue.

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The veteran councillor, who is running unopposed and is poised to be re-elected by acclamation, first joined a community-led attempt to rename the street in 2021 after Trump’s first term as U.S. president.

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That attempt failed, as 42 votes were received from the 62 homes on Trump Avenue: 21 in favour of changing the name and 21 opposed.

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“I deliberately waited until the first term of the president had passed,” Brockington said Wednesday. “I was concerned at that time that there would be the potential for some sort of retaliatory response, and we’ve seen that. You name it and there’s a retaliatory response.”

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Brockington said he hand-delivered a letter to every home on the street “in the middle of winter” in 2021 and followed up with those who did not respond.

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Riley Brockington, city councillor for River ward, plans to introduce a motion calling for a new name for Trump Avenue to be proposed by the second quarter of 2027. Photo by Jean Levac /POSTMEDIA

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Brockington said he’d received overwhelming support for renaming the street since the idea resurfaced in recent weeks.

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“I’m embarrassed about a street in our city, let alone my ward, named in his honour,” Brockington said. “Just in the context of tariffs and their impact on Canada and Ontario, nothing has happened that would result in anyone saying this was a good idea (to name a street after Trump.)

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“That led to an absolutely overwhelming volume of correspondence that I have received in the last two weeks from all over Canada and the United States. We’ve heard from people in Australia, Greece, the U.K.

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“We’re at the point where it’s just completely unacceptable to have the street named after this individual,” he said. “I could speak at length about it … just one incident would be enough for any resident to trigger us to reflect on and reconsider the name. But we’re just past that point. It’s time to move forward. It’s time to rename the street, and I will engage everyone on a process going forward.”

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The Central Park neighbourhood was built in the late 1990s west of Merivale Road and north of Baseline Road across from a parcel of the Central Experimental Farm, with many of its streets named after New York City landmarks, including names like Gramercy Park, Staten Way and Bloomingdale Street.