Before the ink had even dried on U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order to rename Lake Ontario, a Canadian company was already selling hats with the Great Lake’s true name emblazoned on it.
The baseball caps from Ottawa company Jackpine went up for sale online just hours after Trump signed the order to call the body of water that borders Canada and New York “Lake America.”
Jackpine founder Liam Mooney says he came up with the idea for the design the night before.
“It was just clear that he was going to do this to us, and so we jumped on it,” Mooney told As It Happens guest host Paul Hunter. “The timing was certainly fortuitous.”
Jackpine, which Mooney owns with his wife Emma Cochrane, is also responsible for the “Canada Is Not For Sale” hats that became a sensation last year after Ontario Premier Doug Ford started sporting one during public appearances.
“I feel like, you know, in a certain sense, like an obligation, like I’m a chief propagandist for Canada,” Mooney said.
“I’m just sort of doing whatever I can to activate our made-in-Canada supply chains so that if there is demand from this, that we can onshore that manufacturing and that we use the project itself to activate the industrial base of our country.”
Trump’s executive order, which changes the Great Lake’s name on U.S. maps, comes after trade negotiations broke down between Canada and the U.S. last weekend.
The Trump administration has slapped 50 per cent tariffs on a wide array of Canadian goods, and Canada has responded in kind.
Canadians have flatly rejected the executive order.
Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote on social media that the name Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io,” which means “’the lake is beautiful, the lake is big,” and noted it predates “both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.”
Wendat Nation Grand Chief Pierre Picard also issued a statement accusing Trump of trying to “eradicate” the nation’s history.
Trump orders Lake Ontario be renamed ‘Lake America’
U.S. political commentator Charlie Sykes told CBC Radio’s Day 6 the move shows how unserious Trump is as a leader.
“He’s trying to portray himself as this, you know, great world-bestriding leader, comparing himself to the Caesars and the Napoleons and the Attila the Huns of history. But what is he doing? He’s sitting around on social media, putting out a slop about changing the names of lakes,” Syles said.
“A clown with a flamethrower still has a flamethrower, but he’s still a clown too.”
Mooney says the minute Jackpine posted the hat online, the orders started flooding in.
“It’s been a really awesome day, a really tremendous response,” he said. “Canadians, I think, are looking for opportunities right now to channel their patriotism.”
But the customer base, he says, extends beyond Canada’s borders.
“We’re getting order in Paris, Tokyo, London, Berlin,” he said. “People around the world are standing in solidarity with Canada.”
‘Lake America’? Trump’s ‘utterly ridiculous’ renaming met with laughter in Kingston
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His isn’t the only Canadian company that’s found a way to cash in on the trade war that’s expected to wreak havoc on many businesses and industries.
In 2025, “Elbows Up” apparel was flying off the shelves of Canadian companies, including Timeless Memories in Yarmouth, N.S., and Toronto’s Shop Love Collective.
The hockey phrase, coined by legendary player Gordie Howe, became a national rallying cry last spring when Trump was making repeated jokes and threats about annexing Canada as a 51st state.
This Windsor, Ont., woman is making hundreds of ‘Elbows Up’ pins
Asked whether selling the Lake Ontario hats could be seen as a cynical ploy to make a buck off a bad situation, Mooney maintained he’s motivated by patriotism, not profits.
“When people are looking for a way to express how they feel, to take a lot of complex ideas and put it somewhere really simple, there are ways to do that. And it just so happens that we’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of some moments where we’ve actually accomplished that,” he said.
“And thankfully, it’s been to Canada’s benefit. We’ve invested millions into the Canadian textile industry, into Canadian workers.”
