Ottawa City Council has voted unanimously to begin stripping Donald Trump’s name from a residential street in Canada’s capital, with “Taco Avenue” and “Obama Avenue” surfacing as two of the more provocative replacement options.
The 25-year-old Trump Avenue sits in the Central Park neighbourhood, part of a New York City-themed subdivision developed around 2000 that also includes Staten Way, Madison Park and Gotham Private. Councillor Riley Brockington, who represents the area, made his position plain during this week’s council meeting.
“I’m embarrassed that there is a street in River Ward called Trump Avenue, and I’m embarrassed that, in the nation’s capital, we have Donald Trump honoured in this respect,” Brockington told fellow council members. “We’re past the point of debating whether or not the street name should remain Trump Avenue. It should not.”
Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe lined up behind the push without reservation. “I don’t want anything named after Donald Trump in Ottawa,” he stated.
The timing follows a dramatic deterioration in Canada-U.S. Relations. The two countries are locked in a bitter trade dispute featuring reciprocal 50% tariffs, and Trump recently signed an executive order attempting to rebrand Lake Ontario as “Lake America.”
That backdrop has fuelled a flood of creative and pointed suggestions from the public. Councillor Tim Tierney confirmed that residents have proposed Ontario Avenue, Canada Avenue, Beaver Avenue, Canada Goose Avenue, Gulf of Mexico Avenue, Pelosi Avenue and Rosie O’Donnell Avenue.
One submission has gained particular traction online: “Taco Avenue,” a nod to the viral acronym “Trump Always Chickens Out.”
Tierney himself struck a more sober tone about the naming spectacle. “The semantics of names, we can save that for another day in the future,” he said. “Right now, I think our focus has to remain on trade and tariffs, something that this is just nothing more than a distraction from. Stop with the lame name game and let’s get back to the table.”
Renaming the street faces significant procedural hurdles. Municipal policy requires more than 50% of the 62 households on Trump Avenue to vote in favour before any public consultation can begin. A previous attempt in 2021 ended in a deadlocked 21–21 tie, with 20 households abstaining, largely because residents wanted to avoid the paperwork of updating official documents and IDs.
The next formal community vote is expected after municipal elections this autumn.
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