Ottawa Councillor Moves To Rename Trump Avenue, Residents Discover They Live On A Street Nobody Can Say Out Loud
The push to rename Ottawa's Trump Avenue has reached the stage every Canadian municipal initiative eventually reaches: a committee, a public consultation, and a heritage argument nobody asked for.
The street, a short residential stretch in the city's south end, was named in the 1950s after a local family, which is the sort of detail that ruins a good renaming campaign. The councillor behind the motion says the name has become an unbearable daily reminder. Residents say the unbearable daily reminder is actually the delivery drivers who circle the block twice because they assume the address is a prank.
One homeowner reported that her insurance agent asked her to spell it. Twice. A neighbour said he has taken to giving the cross street instead, the way people from Sudbury give the nearest Tim Hortons.
The proposed replacement names include a former alderman, a local tree species, and, inevitably, something with the word Heritage in it. Early polling suggests the tree is winning, because trees do not hold rallies.
There is a procedural wrinkle. Renaming a street in Ottawa requires notifying every affected property owner, updating the emergency services database, and paying for new signs, which means the total cost of removing the word Trump from one block of pavement is roughly the cost of a small tariff exemption.
City staff estimate the process will take eighteen months.
Which means the sign could come down in early 2028, just in time for the name to become relevant again.