Mark Carney during televised remarks in Istanbul, October 23, 2026. Broadcast screen capture supplied by Hans Wilder / Digital Media USA; digitally enhanced for clarity.
OPINION | By Hans Wilder, Watertown Post
Featured image: Mark Carney during televised remarks in Istanbul, October 23, 2026. Broadcast screen capture supplied by Hans Wilder / Digital Media USA; digitally enhanced for clarity. Date and location follow the supplier’s account and the official Istanbul media itinerary. The image does not establish the identity of the building in the background or that he entered it.
SACKETS HARBOR, NEW YORK, October 23, 2026. There is a difference between conducting diplomacy and forgetting what you are supposed to represent. Watching Mark Carney’s Turkey tour, I keep coming back to that distinction. A Canadian prime minister can meet foreign leaders, pursue trade and show courtesy abroad while still speaking confidently about the Christian inheritance, wartime sacrifice and North American relationships that helped make his country possible. In my view, Carney is giving us too much of the ceremony and too little of that confidence.
In the live coverage I watched on The Really Big Show today, Carney was reported visiting a mosque that had once been a Christian cathedral. That is the report on which I am commenting. I have not independently established the building’s identity, and I am not presenting that broadcast account as an independently verified itinerary item. But the symbolism described in that coverage raises a fair political question: when our leaders stand in places where Christian history has been overtaken by later political and religious power, do they remember that history, or simply pose for the next photograph?
My objection is not to Muslims praying, to a prime minister entering a mosque, or to people of any faith being treated with dignity. Religious liberty belongs to everybody, including Christians, Jews, Muslims and those who profess no faith. A confident Christian civilization ought to protect that liberty. What I reject is the idea that respecting somebody else’s tradition requires becoming embarrassed by our own. Christian churches, sacred places and historical memory deserve the same candor and care that politicians readily extend to every fashionable diplomatic cause.
The confirmed record deserves equal care. Carney’s official itinerary places him in Istanbul today. Yesterday, October 22, he laid a wreath at Atatürk’s Anıtkabir mausoleum in Ankara. That was a visit to Atatürk’s mausoleum, not a ceremony at a Gallipoli memorial. Those are different places with different meanings, and an opinion column should not blur them.
In his published remarks alongside President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Carney discussed paying respects at Anıtkabir and spoke warmly of its symbolism. Those published remarks did not acknowledge the Newfoundland Regiment’s losses at Gallipoli. That is a specific omission in that text, not proof that he never mentioned them elsewhere or evidence that we can read his mind. Still, I believe a Canadian leader honoring Atatürk should have found room in those remarks for the Newfoundlanders whose sacrifice is part of Canada’s heritage today.
Atatürk commanded Ottoman forces at Gallipoli. The Newfoundland Regiment fought the Ottomans there, and Veterans Affairs Canada records roughly 40 Newfoundland deaths during the campaign. Newfoundland was then a separate British dominion and did not join Canada until 1949. Remembering that distinction makes the history more meaningful, not less. Diplomatic courtesy to today’s Turkey need not erase the men who served and died on the other side of that battlefield.
A continent should remember its roots
I believe America’s Judeo-Christian inheritance remains a source of national strength. It helped shape our understanding of moral responsibility, the dignity of the person, the importance of family and the conviction that government is accountable to something higher than itself. That inheritance has never meant that every American shares one creed, nor has our history always lived up to its ideals. It gives us a standard to recover and defend. Canada has its own deep Christian history, alongside Indigenous traditions and the contributions of many communities. A healthy North America can acknowledge all of that without treating its churches and founding traditions as an inconvenience.
This is why I support President Donald Trump’s Golden Age ambition. I want an America that builds, produces, secures its borders, honors its faith traditions and understands the responsibility that comes with power. A Golden Age cannot be measured only by stock prices or new construction. It also requires a people who know what they believe and leaders who can say it without apologizing. Protecting the freedom of our neighbors to believe differently is part of that strength. So is refusing to let our own heritage disappear beneath the language of international respectability.
Europe cannot replace North America
Carney’s turn toward Europe makes this concern larger than a single overseas appearance. The European proposal concerns a first associate membership or deeper partnership for Canada, not completed full membership in the European Union. Carney welcomed that ambition in his September 17 address to the European Parliament. The Montreal summit scheduled for October 29 and 30 is still ahead. Canadians should judge the actual proposals as they emerge, rather than pretend an accession has already happened.
Canada is entitled to trade with Europe and make its own diplomatic choices. But geography is not a public relations problem that a speech in Strasbourg can solve. Our Great Lakes, Arctic approaches, energy systems, manufacturing networks and border communities tie our futures together. Here in the North Country, that is daily life. An approach that treats European alignment as a substitute for a strong relationship with the United States risks weakening the continental foundation on which so much of Canada’s prosperity and security rests.
In my judgment, Carney is inviting consequences if he turns closer European ties into a political project built around distancing Canada from America. Washington should answer with clear priorities: reciprocal trade, reliable defense commitments, secure supply chains and fair treatment for American workers. Lawful economic and diplomatic leverage should serve those goals, with an honest accounting of the costs to families and businesses on both sides of the border. The United States has no veto over Canadian sovereignty. It does have every right to negotiate firmly over its own market, resources and security commitments.
I would go further in the direction of peaceful North American integration. Stronger continental defense, better Arctic coordination, dependable energy cooperation and easier legitimate commerce should be an American-led offer worth accepting. Any deeper political arrangement would require lawful processes and the freely expressed consent of the people involved. Leadership means making cooperation attractive and credible. It means protecting the continent through strength, investment and diplomacy, with respect for our neighbors’ rights.
Carney can keep collecting overseas applause. I would rather see North American leaders earn the trust of the people who live here. Remember the fallen. Defend the freedom to worship. Speak honestly about the Christian and Jewish inheritance that helped shape our public life. Then build a secure, prosperous continent capable of carrying that inheritance forward. That is the Golden Age argument I want America to make, and it is the message I believe Canada most needs to hear.
This article expresses the opinion of Hans Wilder.
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