The one thing everybody was talking about over the weekend was Google Maps changing the name of Lake Ontario, but selectively—showing Trump’s preferred hydronym in the US, Lake Ontario in Canada, and showing both names internationally for some unfathomable reason. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth as Canadian websites, including government and Crown corporations, and even political parties, were using a Google Maps API that identified it using the false name, largely because of back-end issues, and many, many pixels were spilled over it over social media. And while I would rather ignore the child’s tantrum in the cereal aisle, Google’s compliance is a deeper underlying problem that is a very big deal when you think about it. (Note that Apple has not complied, and MapQuest saw a huge jump in downloads as a result).
Google is not acting cowardly. They are not capitulating.Sundar Pichai was sitting in the front row at Donald Trump's inauguration.Google knows that digital imperialism is a joint project of the US government and Silicon Valley. Google benefits enormously, so you give a bit to get a bit.
Google is furthering Trump's interests and Trump is furthering Google's interest.Google isn't capitulating, because they're both on the same side.
The Lake Ontario/Lake America thing is exactly the sort of thing where Canada could be subsumed by American "digital trade alignment" which we know they were asking for before talks broke down.It's not cultural imperialism. It's just "aligning" on database entries for the name of a lake.
The United States wants the Internet, and the systems run by American tech giants, to be governed exclusively under American rules.Any assertion by other countries that we might have other ideas about how to regulate digital commerce and online culture constitute a trade barrier.
We have seen the focus by US trade negotiators over “digital trade alignment,” but it is increasingly becoming clear that this is a Trojan Horse for undermining our digital sovereignty, and that they keep dressing up our sovereignty as “trade irritants” that they expect us to capitulate on for their benefit. These particular issues are demonstrating a vulnerability that we have by being so attached to US web services, not just in the cloud, but through payments, and other digital infrastructure. This is a major vulnerability that I think this government needs to start addressing immediately, rather than focusing so much time and attention on digital asbestos in the false belief that it will boost our productivity or that we’ll be “left behind” if we don’t race to adopt it blindly, which so many companies have learned was the wrong thing to do.
My Latest:
My weekend column points out that we don’t have any reliable allies in the US, as they all will keep tariffs in place, and we have to stop pretending otherwise.
New episodes released early for C$7+ subscribers. This week I make a few observations about the drama happening within the BC Conservatives. #cdnpoli
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-08-31T00:13:00.427Z
Ukraine Dispatch:
A massive drone assault on Kyiv and the surrounding region has been ongoing for five days, particularly targeting food retailers’ logistics hubs, plus an ammunition warehouse that killed 38 people when it detonated. The town of Druzhkivka in the east along the “fortress belt” has been flattened by Russian attacks.
Noteworthy:
- The Star hears from various players in the trade talks about how things broke down, while CBC talks to Janice Charette, who gives her side of the breakdown.
- Jen Gerson reminds us that resistance in the face of bad faith and coercion is a moral end in and of itself, and is certainly not futile.
- Supriya Dwivedi says that while releasing the failed trade agreement text would be malpractice, the government needs to keep the Americans from filling the info space.
- Justin Ling suggests it’s time the government start moving away from American tech platforms, particularly Facebook and Xitter.
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