Even before Ottawa city council could get around to removing U.S. President Donald Trump’s name from a local residential street, it appears someone has beaten them to it.
On Friday afternoon, the blue and white Trump Avenue sign at the corner of Whitestone Drive in Ottawa’s Central Park neighbourhood was missing. Its absence had been flagged on social media earlier in the day.
Other Trump Avenue signs in the area remain.
CBC News reached out to the City of Ottawa to ask if the sign was stolen or removed by the city, and if so when.
The city replied via email that it’s looking into what happened and that once the city has “confirmed the status of the sign,” staff will figure out next steps, including whether a replacement is needed.
CBC News has also reached out to Ottawa police for more information.
Ottawa’s Central Park area features other New York City-themed names such as Bloomingdale Street and Staten Way.
The sign’s mysterious disappearance comes just two days after Ottawa city councillors voted to rename the street, which was named after Trump 20 years ago, before he became president.
River ward Coun. Riley Brockington fronted the motion to change the name earlier this month, saying the American president doesn’t deserve the honour in light of his repeated threats to Canada.
The motion came 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.
That motion was approved on Wednesday.
Ottawa city council votes to dump Trump Avenue
A working group will be formed to consult with the public, go over options and come up with a new name to be voted on next spring, Brockington said.
A previous effort to rename Trump Avenue in 2021 failed after a consultation found residents split on the idea, with many who opposed the change expressing concerns about the inconvenience of changing their home address.
The City of Ottawa has a program for buying decommissioned signs for streets whose names have been renamed.
You can learn more about that here.
In its email, the city said street signs are “a critical piece of infrastructure for reporting and responding to emergencies” and that they should not be removed, damaged or taken.
