It’s Lake Ontario, as far as the Quebec government is concerned. For a brief period on Monday, users visiting the provincial transportation ministry’s interactive traffic map saw “Lake America” appear on their screen. The change on Quebec511.info came after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office last week to change the name of the smallest of the Great Lakes to “Lake America.” A spokesperson for the Ministère des Transports et de la Mobilité durable said the name of the lake was changed because the map uses data from Google Maps. The online tech giant confirmed that Google Maps also changed the name of the lake because it relies on information from government sources, notably the U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). “Depending on the regional settings applied by this provider, certain geographic names may vary, and a recent adjustment made by Google explains the unusual display observed,” wrote Émilie Lord, a transportation ministry spokesperson, in an email. “The issue has been corrected. The official name, ‘Lake Ontario,’ is now displayed.” Google has said, however, that users in Canada using Google Maps should still see Lake Ontario, and that only U.S. users would see “Lake America” after the company updated its maps on Saturday. The Ministry of Transport isn’t the only government website to show the wrong name. Quebec’s liquor control board, known as the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ), told CTV News that it has asked its third-party provider “to make the correction on our website first thing this morning to revert the name to Lake Ontario.” The maps change also affected the website of the SQDC, the government-owned corporation that handles the sale of recreational cannabis. “The naming issue on the maps used by the SQDC was corrected on Monday morning. It was caused by a supplier, who was able to resolve the issue as soon as it was brought to their attention,” a spokesperson said in an email. Name changed on other government maps Several government agencies in Ontario, such as Metrolinx, HydroOne, and the LCBO, also displayed “Lake America,” blaming third-party mapping services for the change. They later reversed the change. Meanwhile, MapQuest has said it will refuse to change the name of Lake Ontario on its maps. U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in an interview that Trump contacted Apple directly to force the company to change the name Lake Ontario to “Lake America” and that the change would happen very soon. With files from CTV News’ Kayla Thompson and The Canadian Press
