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Looking for Canadian Alternatives to U.S. Tech? It’s Not Easy, Experts Say
🇨🇦 Canada /Technology

Looking for Canadian Alternatives to U.S. Tech? It’s Not Easy, Experts Say

From Global News · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • MapQuest gained users and online attention after saying it would not change Lake Ontario’s name, following Google Maps’ reported move to label it “Lake America.”
  • The app became the third most downloaded free app in Canada, while Google Trends searches rose sharply, according to the article.
  • Experts say Canadians can switch some services, but alternatives to dominant U.S. technology companies are limited, particularly for cloud and essential infrastructure.

MapQuest, an American company many users may not have thought about in years, suddenly became a popular choice after it said it would keep calling the body of water Lake Ontario. The company responded to Google Maps’ reported decision to use the name “Lake America,” a move linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s push to rename it.

We’re not changing it.

— MapQuestThe company said it would continue labeling the lake as Lake Ontario.

“We’re not changing it,” MapQuest wrote alongside a screenshot of its map. On Sunday, it followed up with another post saying, “We are aware that Lake Ontario is being correctly labeled on our map.” The campaign quickly gained praise. By Monday, MapQuest ranked third among free apps downloaded in Canada, behind ChatGPT and Meta AI.

Search interest also jumped. Google Trends traffic for MapQuest rose 5,000 percent from the same period a year earlier, while searches in Canada increased 500 percent from the previous week. Worldwide searches were up 50 percent from the previous week and 40 percent from the same period last year.

We are aware that Lake Ontario is being correctly labeled on our map.

— MapQuestThe company reinforced its response in a follow-up social media post.

MapQuest chief executive Doug Berger said Canadians make up “a very big chunk” of the company’s customer base, even though the United States remains its largest market. “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.

Hundreds of thousands of people have picked up the app and downloaded it. Obviously, people agree with us and we struck a chord.

— Doug BergerMapQuest’s CEO described the surge in Canadian downloads.

The burst of interest also exposed the limits of a broader Canadian effort to move away from U.S. technology. Changing map applications takes only a few clicks, but replacing cloud infrastructure and other essential digital services is harder. Emily Osborne of the Canadian Shield Institute said American firms could potentially “throttle our access to essential services,” pointing to concerns about a possible “kill switch” for cloud infrastructure. Rotman School of Management professor David Soberman said almost all dominant technology companies are American or American-owned, making a wider switch easier to demand than to achieve.

There’s a lot of areas, because of how dependent we are on American firms, where they can throttle our access to essential services.

— Emily OsborneThe Canadian Shield Institute researcher warned about dependence on U.S. technology providers.
About this summary

Originally published by Global News in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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