Timothy Kennedy

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America” last week, but not all Americans are happy with the change — including some in the House of Representatives.

On Monday, Democratic representatives Tim Kennedy and Joe Morelle, both of New York, and Debbie Dingell, of Michigan, introduced the Hands Off Our Great Lakes Act. The legislation aims not only to reverse Lake Ontario’s name change, but also to block future renaming of any Great Lake.

The move comes as Google spurred outcry and controversy by renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America” on its Google Maps app for American users and as Trump reportedly spoke to Apple in an effort to prompt the tech giant to do the same on Apple Maps. American online mapping service MapQuest said on social media it would not change the name.

Kennedy, a Buffalonian whose electoral district borders Canada, spoke to The Current guest host Paul Hunter about why he wants to reverse the name change in the U.S. Here's part of their conversation; it has been edited for length.

Tell us about the bill you introduced yesterday. What does it involve?

The three of us have introduced this bill ... which would essentially rescind the president’s ridiculous executive order to rename Lake Ontario.

We know what this is — this is a total distraction from his economic assault on the American people in putting forward these tariffs against our greatest ally, our greatest friend and neighbour, Canada. We’re not going to stand for it, so we’re moving very quickly to get that executive order rescinded.

What do you say to people who say 'This is just Trump trolling, Trump doing what he does,' and not to sweat it. What do you say to people who think that way?

This president has demonstrated a terrible pattern of childish, juvenile behaviour that’s very dangerous. He has embarrassed the people of this great country, the United States, by his actions — not just in recent actions in putting forth these tariffs and trying to rename Lake Ontario, but in waging an illegal war of choice in the Middle East, and in putting in global tariffs across a spectrum where it’s driven up the cost of living for every single American.

We have an affordability crisis that’s been created by this president’s failed economic policies, enabled by congressional Republicans that refuse to get in his way, or even challenge him — not even in a policy perspective, but even challenge him from a public perspective, calling out what’s essentially wrong and what, in many ways, privately, they’re saying he shouldn’t be doing.

But look — 63 days from today we have an election. I believe the American people are going to respond, and they’re going to respond aggressively at the ballot box, and elect a new House of Representatives majority with Democrats in control to be able hold President Trump and his administration accountable.

You grew up just across the border, in Buffalo, N.Y., and you represent that region now. Let’s talk about the relationship between the two countries historically. How would you characterize the ties, where you are from, to Canadians?

Canadians are our greatest friends, and not just allies, but really our friends and neighbours. I have family in Canada. Many of the immigrants that came over the border over the course of the last two centuries came through Canada, just like my family did, and settled in Buffalo, and settled in western New York, in the Buffalo-Niagara region, and made us who we are as a community.

We are so intertwined. We have the Peace Bridge that represents the largest contiguous peaceful border — 5,000 miles between the United States and Canada — in the world.

It’s a tremendous history — it’s the present, and it’s the future. We are not going to let this president get in the way of our relationship with our Canadian friends and neighbours. We will challenge him every single opportunity we have.

This also impacts our economy. Both the Canadians and the United States have this tremendous trade partnership that goes back so many years. We are intertwined culturally, we’re intertwined economically.

In my district, we have the GM plant in Tonawanda. When they make engines, they go back and forth across the Canadian border seven times before that final product is completed.

Our health-care institutions, in so many ways are staffed by the health-care workers that come across the border from Canada.

We sing the national anthem of both Canada and the United States before every single Sabres game.

Just last April, when we were playing the Boston Bruins ... the mic went out when the young lady was singing the Canadian national anthem. All of the people in Buffalo, in that arena, came together and sang the Canadian national anthem. We know the Canadian national anthem by heart, because we grew up with it.

We are so intertwined in so many ways, we are one, and we stand with our Canadian friends and allies.

Republicans have a slim majority right now in the House. Do you think your bill is going to get enough support from them to pass? What do you think?

We passed a bill, not too long ago, that actually rescinded this president’s tariffs, but it passed by a slim margin. It was bipartisan, but it passed by a very slim margin. We had a handful of Republicans that joined in. It was shortly thereafter that the Supreme Court ruled the president’s initial tariffs illegal.

So then what does he do? He uses a century old piece of legislation to put more tariffs in, continuing this affordability crisis, continuing an economic ambush on the American people, driving up the cost of living, driving up the cost of housing, the cost of groceries, the cost at the gas pump, the cost of health care, the cost of child care, all because he wants to put in place this childish, juvenile way of governing that congressional Republicans are enabling.

November’s fast approaching. I believe very strongly that the American people are going to respond to his ridiculousness, and we’re going to win the midterms for the Democrats in a big way, all across this great country, and restore order and accountability back into our government.