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Bryan Adams turns the dispute over Lake Ontario’s name into a political jab in his new single, accusing an unnamed leader of using the issue to distract from other controversies.
Released Wednesday, Lake Ontario moves from the lake’s geological and Indigenous history to pointed references to Iran and the Epstein files, before returning to the refrain that the lake will keep its name.
Adams never names Trump directly, instead describing “one dude” who breaks a period of calm among people living on the lake’s shores. He dismisses the idea of changing its name as a “real dog and pony show” and suggests the renaming debate is a distraction.
WATCH | Adams’s music video for Lake Ontario:
The song’s message has found an echo in another Canadian rock classic. At a Toronto show on Aug. 29, Blue Rodeo invited the crowd to sing the Lake Ontario line from its 1993 song Hasn’t Hit Me Yet. Thousands joined in, turning the lyric into a moment of Canadian solidarity amid the name-change dispute.
Adams takes aim at the 51st state idea
The release adds to a recent run of songs in which Adams has taken a more overtly patriotic turn. On Canada Day, he put out 51st State, a response to Trump’s repeated suggestions that Canada should become part of the United States. The song’s title and lyrics reject that idea, placing national identity and Canadian sovereignty at the centre of the track.
The powerful rock anthem never mentions Trump by name either, but it’s abundantly clear who the message is for.
WATCH | Adams’s music video for 51st State:
“Let me give you some advice, mister — you might have too much on your plate,” rasps Adams in the chorus of the rough-and-tumble track. “Go’n load us up with tariffs, but we’ll never be the 51st state.”
Lake Ontario makes its case less like a rallying cry than a wry argument. It opens with references to the lake’s geological history, Indigenous care and the lake’s history of European exploration and industrial use. The lyrics call it the “lake of shining waters” and say the name is not “an executive order.”
In a statement on his website, Adams said, “Empires and regimes, dictators and kings, they all come and go. Lake Ontario is forever.” He described the song as being for people on both sides of the lake who believe “the current madness will pass.”
Lake Ontario is a bonus track on the digital edition of Adams’s coming album, How’s It Goin’, which comes out Nov. 6. The album also includes 51st State, The Ballad of Terry Fox, The Battle of Lundy’s Lane and Diesel and Dirt.
On Instagram, Bryan Adams posted the album cover for How’s it Goin’ with the list of tracks, including The Ballad of Terry Fox, 51st State and his new single, Lake Ontario. (bryanadams and badrecords/Instagram)
A musical love letter to Canada
Adams has described the album as a musical love letter to Canada. Its songs draw on Canadian people, places and history, with influences the release describes as Celtic folk and rock. The track list suggests a mix of historical subjects and contemporary politics, from Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope to the current dispute over the lake’s name.
Born in Kingston, Ont., and raised primarily in Ottawa, Adams has never shied away from speaking his mind. He has been calling for an end to Canadian content rules ever since his 1991 hit (Everything I Do) I Do it for You was deemed by regulators to be not Canadian enough because he collaborated with non-Canadians. As recently as last year, he called the system “archaic” and “really stupid,” arguing it only serves to prop up mediocre homegrown music.
With Lake Ontario, Adams brings his longstanding focus on Canadian identity into the current political debate. The song’s central message is simple: political figures and disputes may come and go, but the lake, he argues, should remain Lake Ontario.
