As leaders on both sides of the border reacted over recent days to Google Maps changing the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America,” aligning with U.S. President Donald Trump’s push, MapQuest made a social media post that quickly drew praise and has seen the app’s downloads surge.
“We’re not changing it,” the company said over a screenshot of the lake on their map platform on Thursday.
MapQuest, which is also an American company, took the marketing campaign further on Sunday, saying, “We are aware that Lake Ontario is being correctly labeled on our map.”
The app, which many users likely haven’t thought of in years, quickly became the number three most downloaded app among all free apps on Monday, right behind ChatGPT and Meta AI, and saw its Google Trends search traffic up 5,000 per cent compared to the same period last year, with searches up 500 per cent compared to last week in Canada.
Worldwide, searches for the app are up 50 per cent compared to last week and 40 per cent compared to the same period last year.
While the U.S. is the biggest market for MapQuest, Canadians also make up “a very big chunk” of their customer base and the decision to stand by the name has resonated with them, MapQuest CEO Doug Berger said.
“Hundreds of thousands of people have picked up the app and downloaded it. Obviously, people agree with us and we struck a chord,” Berger said.
But while switching from Google Maps to MapQuest takes only a few clicks on your smartphone, switching other digital technology services can be trickier — and often, there aren’t many alternatives to the U.S. tech giants, let alone Canadian options amid the growing Buy Canadian push, experts say.
“There’s a lot of areas, because of how dependent we are on American firms, where they can throttle our access to essential services,” said Emily Osborne, policy researcher at the Canadian Shield Institute, a think tank launched last year and focusing on digital sovereignty and national security.
The institute includes former Blackberry co-CEO Jim Balsillie on its board of directors.
“Cloud infrastructure stands out as an example of this, and you see people concerned about the potential of a kill switch for cloud infrastructure or other essential infrastructure services,” she added.
Ontario rejects Trump’s executive order renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America
Making the switch from American tech is easier said than done for most Canadians, Rotman School of Management marketing professor David Soberman said.
“Almost all the dominant companies are American or American owned,” he said.
It can be easier to make the change in some cases compared to others, Soberman said. For example, some Canadians may choose to order from Canadian platforms like SkipTheDishes instead of UberEats, or buy retail goods on Canadian Tire instead of Amazon or Walmart.
“Canadian Tire is pretty competitive, and, in some cases, they might even be less expensive,” Soberman said.
Some Canadian companies, like Toronto-based HOVR and Beck Taxi, are also looking to compete with Uber and Lyft in some of Canada’s biggest cities.
But most U.S. tech has become enmeshed in our lives, Osborne said, meaning it can be harder to change up services like website domains, email hosting, social media and other digital technology.
While some Canadian social media alternatives like Gander and NorthSocial do exist, they cannot match the “scope and scale” of American social media giants, she said.
“It’s difficult to switch away from Meta’s platforms because all of our friends are going to continue using it. It’s hard to convince them all to switch,” she said.
Trump trade fight fuels ‘Buy Canadian’ movement
You might be able to find alternatives for individual apps, like Canadian browser Shift in place of Google Chrome or Safari and cDox in place of Microsoft Word and Google Docs.
For those looking for an alternative for Microsoft Teams or Slack, Canadian conference calling software Callbridge might offer an alternative.
However, Osborne said it might end up being less cost effective with big U.S. firms offering bundles, packages and suites of software like Microsoft Office or Google Suite.
“We have some Canadian alternatives to Google Docs or Google Sheets, but there’s no across the board whole alternative to those products,” she said.
In some areas, Canadians have more choice between Canadian and non-U.S. tech offerings.
“We do have a Canadian alternative to Gmail called Typewire, and when there aren’t Canadian alternatives or we’re interested in different alternatives, there’s plenty of EU-based options that we can switch. There’s EU-based email providers like ProtonMail that are a bit bigger that we can also consider switching to,” Osborne said.
And there are areas where there are no alternatives to U.S. tech, like in payment platforms.
While Interac provides some domestic payment infrastructure in Canada, two American companies – Visa and Mastercard – dominate the global credit card network.
Last month, Canadian commercial solutions and payment processing platform Moneris got a new owner in an American private equity firm.
Moneris, one of Canada’s largest commerce solutions providers, was jointly owned by the Bank of Montreal and the Royal Bank of Canada. American private equity firm Francisco Partners, which specializes in dealing with technology companies, bought the platform for $2 billion.
Canadian tech firms being sold off to American private equity has become common.
“We used to have a Canadian alternative to Google Maps called Avenza and we sold it to a Boston private equity firm,” Osborne said.
While the list of Canadian tech firms offering alternatives to American giants may be small, the entrenchment of the “Buy Canadian” movement offers an opportunity for growth, Soberman said.
“If there is a pronounced shift to buying Canadian, that in itself will create an opportunity. After all, we do have Shopify which is a huge Canadian company and others will arise if Canadians start showing those preferences,” he added.
Ottawa could take a page out of the European Union’s book by creating more tools themselves, Osborne said.
“The French government has alternatives to Zoom and to Teams and to a bunch of other American office software products that they’re building in-house for their public servants to use.”
The renewed Buy Canadian surge also provides a marketing opportunity, not just to Canadian firms but also to American firms looking to build bridges with Canadian consumers as MapQuest’s social media campaign shows, Soberman said.
“Something like the changing of Lake Ontario provides an opportunity even for American firms to be deferential to Canadian wishes,” he said.
But being able to sustain any changes is important for keeping any new habit or effort going, experts noted.
“People should always remember in this case is to look for the easiest ways to put your preferences into action and not to punish yourself,” says Soberman.
–With files from Global’s Mackenzie Gray
