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Karina Gould

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The Honourable
Karina Gould
PC MP
Gould in 2021
Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
In office
July 26, 2023 – January 24, 2025
Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau
Preceded byMark Holland
Succeeded bySteven MacKinnon
Minister of Families, Children and Social Development
In office
October 26, 2021 – July 26, 2023
Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau
Preceded byAhmed Hussen
Succeeded byJenna Sudds
Minister of International Development
In office
November 20, 2019 – October 26, 2021
Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau
Preceded byMaryam Monsef
Succeeded byHarjit Sajjan
Minister of Democratic Institutions
In office
February 1, 2017 – November 20, 2019
Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau
Preceded byMaryam Monsef
Succeeded byDominic LeBlanc (2023)
President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada
In office
January 10, 2017 – July 18, 2018
Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau
Preceded byMaryam Monsef
Succeeded byDominic LeBlanc
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development
In office
December 2, 2015 – January 10, 2017
MinisterMarie-Claude Bibeau
Preceded byLois Brown
Succeeded byCelina Caesar-Chavannes
Member of Parliament
for Burlington
Incumbent
Assumed office
October 19, 2015
Preceded byMike Wallace
Personal details
Born (1987-06-28) June 28, 1987 (age 37)
Political partyLiberal
Spouse
Alberto Gerones
​
(m. 2010)​
Children2
Residence(s)Burlington, Ontario, Canada
Alma mater
Websitekgould.liberal.ca

Karina Gould PC MP (born June 28, 1987) is a Canadian politician and member of the Liberal Party. She has served as member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Burlington in the House of Commons since October 19, 2015. Gould was first appointed to Cabinet on February 1, 2017 as minister of Democratic Institutions, serving in the role until she was appointed minister of International Development on November 20, 2019, and has since then served in two other portfolios. Gould is the youngest woman to serve as a Cabinet minister in Canadian history and the first woman to give birth while serving as a federal minister.[1] Gould went on maternity leave in January 2024 and was temporarily replaced as House Leader by Steven MacKinnon; she returned to the position in July 2024.[2] On January 24, 2025, she left cabinet as a result of her candidacy for the Liberal leadership.

On January 18, 2025, Gould announced her campaign for the Liberal leadership. She is the youngest and only incumbent cabinet minister in the race. If elected, she would become the second female prime minister of Canada.[3]

Early life and career

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Gould was born on June 28, 1987,[4] and grew up in Burlington, Ontario, in a family with three brothers.[5] Her paternal grandparents were Czech Jews who survived the Holocaust. Her mother is German and met her father while on a kibbutz in Israel.[6] At sixteen, she participated in the Forum for Young Canadians, spending a week in Ottawa learning about the federal government, which she credits as the impetus for her goal of a career in Parliament. After she graduated from M.M. Robinson High School in 2005,[7] she spent the next year volunteering at an orphanage in Mexico, where she met her husband, Alberto Gerones.[8]

Upon her return to Canada in 2006, Gould attended McGill University, earning a joint honours degree in political science as well as Latin American and Caribbean studies. Writing her honours thesis on the Canadian electoral system, she graduated first class honours with distinction in 2010. During her time as an undergraduate student she served as the president of the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) and helped organize fundraising for humanitarian aid for Haiti in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake.[9][5]

In 2010, Gould took a job with the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C., working as a consultant in the Migration and Development Program.[5] She is cited as contributing to the 2011 report, International Migration in the Americas: First Report of the Continuous Reporting System on International Migration in the Americas (SICREMI).[10]

Gould subsequently completed a master's degree in international relations at St Hilda's College, Oxford.[11] Upon completion of her graduate studies at Oxford, Gould decided to move back to her hometown of Burlington, Ontario. She took a job working as a Trade and Investment Specialist for the Mexican Trade Commission "ProMexico" in Toronto.[5] Gould held this position for less than a year before announcing her candidacy in the 2015 election at the age of twenty-eight.

Political career

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2015 Canadian federal election

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At the age of 28, Gould defeated Conservative incumbent Mike Wallace, who had represented the riding since the 2006 federal election, by winning 46% of the vote to his 42.5%.[11][12]

During the election campaign, she attracted minor attention for deleting a three-year-old tweet expressing opposition to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines – eventually not approved by the Trudeau government – and to the development of the Alberta tar sands in general.[5][13]

Reflecting upon her first campaign in 2019 interview, Gould said: "In 2015, I'd say the No. 1 thing people asked me at the door was how old I was and why I thought I could jump into politics at such a young age... And I know, for a fact, that they wouldn't ask a man of the same age those questions."[14]

Parliamentary Secretary

[edit]

Gould was named the parliamentary secretary to the minister of international development and La Francophonie on December 2, 2015.[5][15] During her time in this role she chaired a foreign-aid strategy session at the Health Systems Research Conference in Vancouver (2016) where stated that it was important to empower women and girls within a feminist approach to foreign-aid.[16] During United States President Barack Obama's July 2016 state visit to Ottawa, he gave a shout out to Burlington during his address to Parliament (where his brother-in-law Konrad Ng lives) prompting Gould to wave for the cameras, in what Maclean's called her most high-profile moment.[5]

Minister of Democratic Institutions

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On January 10, 2017, she was named Minister of Democratic Institutions, succeeding Maryam Monsef.[17] She also became the President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada.[4] These appointments made her the youngest female Cabinet minister in Canadian history, taking office at the age of twenty-nine.[11]

Despite electoral reforms being a pledged mandate of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's 2015 campaign, with this appointment such electoral reforms were no longer part of the Minister of Democratic Institutions mandate.[18][19] Instead, Gould's mandate included commitments to strengthen Canada's democratic institutions and improve Canada's democratic process by addressing and cyber threats like online meddling and the spread of disinformation from social media giants and combating foreign interference.[19][20][21] Gould has been credited as being instrumental in both passing and defending Bill C-76 or Elections Modernization Act, which made significant amendments to the Canadian Elections Act, including numerous accommodations for voter accessibility, restrictions on third-party interference on election campaigns, and a prohibition on spending by foreign entities during elections.[22]

2019 Canadian federal election

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Running as the incumbent in the 2019 Canadian federal election, Gould was re-elected to her seat.[23] Gould's hometown support proved to only be growing as her 2019 results surpassed that of 2015, winning 48.6% of the vote to Conservative Jane Michael's 33.2%.[24] Winning just 157 seats as opposed to the 177 held prior, Gould's growing support in this key Southern Ontario riding enabled her party to obtain a minority government in the 2019 Canadian federal election.[25]

Minister for International Development

[edit]

Gould became the minister for international development, a key position in Trudeau's foreign policy. It came to light on May 18, 2020 that Gould was formally in charge of the Canadian government's sponsorship of the World Health Organization (WHO). As minister she was entrusted the discussions with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO's director-general. She had a "good and frank conversation" with him via electronic means the week before the 73rd World Health Assembly.[26]

As Minister, Gould was responsible for implementing Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy which targets gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls around the world.[27] Gould assisted in leading Canada’s global efforts in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.[28] As a champion for gender equality, she also worked to fight hunger, eradicate poverty and advance the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women.[29] In 2021, Gould was appointed as co-chair of the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) Engagement Group to ensure safe and equitable access to vaccines for all 92 COVAX AMC-eligible economies.[30]

Minister of Families, Children and Social Development

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Gould was shuffled to the families, children and social development portfolio on October 26, 2021.[31] As Minister, Gould was responsible for signing Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care agreements with Alberta, New Brunswick, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and Ontario. These agreements aim to reduce average child care costs to $10 per day by 2026.[32] She was also responsible for working with Indigenous partners to ensure that Indigenous children have access to a culturally appropriate Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care system.[33]

In May 2022, followings leaks of the American Supreme Court's draft opinion of Dobbs v. Jackson, Gould said American women could access abortions in Canada before Roe v. Wade was overturned. She also expressed concern for Canadian women who accessed abortion in the United States because of lack of access in Canada.[34]

During the spring and summer of 2022, the government received criticism regarding long passport processing times, which fell under her ministerial responsibilities. The federal government had shut down Services Canada Centres and Passport Offices in March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and limited applications to "valid urgent travel reasons".[35] Service Canada had warned of high demand for passport applications to come following the loosening of pandemic restrictions, which the government had underestimated. Slow processing times led to lengthy delays, forcing many Canadians to cancel travel plans.[36] In early 2023, under Gould’s leadership, Service Canada had returned the passport program to a steady state, reducing processing times and virtually eliminating the backlog of passport requests.[37]

Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

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Prior to a cabinet shuffle, Gould revealed she was expecting her second child and would take parental leave. She was appointed Leader of the Government in the House of Commons in July 2023. In September 2023, Canadian Parliament welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. During this visit, all present in the House of Commons, gave an elderly Ukrainian-Canadian veteran two standing ovations, unaware he had fought for a Nazi unit during World War II.[38] This became known as the Yaroslav Hunka scandal. Amid this international controversy and "diplomatic embarrassment", Gould deleted a photo from social media of her encounter with Hunka, asked for the Speaker's resignation, and proposed the incident be stricken from official records.[39][40] This motion was criticized and blocked by the opposition.[41][42]

Liberal leadership bid

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Gould announced her candidacy in the 2025 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election, to succeed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.[43] She resigned as Government House Leader to run in the race and was replaced on January 24, 2025, by Steven MacKinnon who had previously stood in for her during her maternity leave in 2024.[44]

Personal life

[edit]

Gould married her husband, Alberto Gerones, in 2010.[45] She gave birth to her first child Oliver on March 8, 2018, making her the first sitting federal Cabinet minister to give birth while in office and the first Cabinet minister to take maternity leave.[46][47] Her breastfeeding her then-three-month-old son during question period in the House of Commons attracted media attention during June 2018.[48] The family welcomed daughter Taya on January 23, 2024.[49]

Electoral record

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2021 Canadian federal election: Burlington
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Karina Gould 31,602 45.7 –2.9 $108,267.63
Conservative Emily Brown 25,742 37.3 +4.1 $99,594.92
New Democratic Nick Page 7,507 10.9 +0.7 $9,478.98
People's Michael Bator 2,764 4.0 +2.7 $7,469.57
Green Christian Cullis 1,368 2.0 –4.6 $1,096.10
Rhinoceros Jevin David Carroll 122 0.2 N/A $0.00
Total valid votes/Expense limit 69,105 99.4 – $126,483.23
Total rejected ballots 424 0.6
Turnout 69,529 69.7
Eligible voters 99,734
Liberal hold Swing –3.5
Source: Elections Canada[50]
2019 Canadian federal election: Burlington
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Karina Gould 34,989 48.61 +2.63 $106,261.57
Conservative Jane Michael 23,930 33.24 –9.24 $86,302.63
New Democratic Lenaee Dupuis 7,372 10.24 +1.14 $31,070.76
Green Gareth Williams 4,750 6.60 +4.16 $6,940.18
People's Peter Smetana 944 1.31 $5,500.00
Total valid votes/expense limit 71,985 99.17
Total rejected ballots 600 0.83 +0.45
Turnout 72,585 72.44 –0.76
Eligible voters 100,201
Liberal hold Swing +5.93
Source: Elections Canada[51][52]
2015 Canadian federal election: Burlington
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Karina Gould 32,229 45.98 +22.74 $104,313.08
Conservative Mike Wallace 29,780 42.48 –11.66 $105,053.18
New Democratic David Laird 6,381 9.10 –9.75 $28,503.64
Green Vince Fiorito 1,710 2.44 –1.10 $1,631.97
Total valid votes/expense limit 70,100 99.63   $239,840.79
Total rejected ballots 263 0.37
Turnout 70,363 73.20
Eligible voters 96,126
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing +17.20
Source: Elections Canada[53][54]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Karina Gould becomes first federal cabinet minister to have a baby in office". CBC. March 9, 2018. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
  2. ^ "Trudeau picks Steven MacKinnon as new labour minister after Seamus O'Regan steps down". Toronto Star. July 19, 2024. Retrieved July 19, 2024.
  3. ^ "House leader Karina Gould announces she's running in the Liberal leadership contest". CBC News. January 18, 2025. Retrieved January 18, 2025.
  4. ^ a b "GOULD, The Hon. Karina, P.C." Library of Parliament. Archived from the original on January 18, 2017. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Proudfoot, Shannon (January 10, 2017). "Who is Karina Gould, Trudeau's newest and youngest minister?". Maclean's. Archived from the original on January 17, 2017. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  6. ^ Lungen, Paul (November 10, 2015). "Here are the six Jewish MP's headed to Ottawa". Canadian Jewish News. Archived from the original on November 2, 2023. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  7. ^ "Meet Hon. Karina Gould". Liberal Party of Canada. Archived from the original on October 28, 2019. Retrieved October 26, 2019.
  8. ^ Proudfoot, Shannon (March 28, 2017). "Karina Gould's trial by fire". Maclean's. Archived from the original on October 23, 2019. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  9. ^ Le Cannellier, Clara. "From McGill to Parliament Hill". McGill University. Archived from the original on November 4, 2019. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  10. ^ "SICREMI Report 2011" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 4, 2019. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  11. ^ a b c Sienkiewicz, Alexander (January 12, 2017). "Meet the 29-year-old who is the youngest ever female Canadian cabinet member". CBC News. Archived from the original on January 17, 2017. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  12. ^ "Voter Information Service - Past Results: Burlington (Ontario)". Elections Canada. Archived from the original on October 20, 2015. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  13. ^ Smith, Joanna (August 11, 2015). "Liberal candidate Karina Gould deletes 'tar sands' tweet". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on December 3, 2022. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  14. ^ Gibson, Victoria (October 18, 2019). "'This is not a place for me': female politicians reveal frustrations on the campaign trail". iPolitics. Archived from the original on October 24, 2019. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
  15. ^ "Parliamentary Secretaries" (PDF). Privy Council of Canada. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 8, 2015. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  16. ^ Webster, Paul (January 16, 2017). "Should Canada focus on antimicrobial resistance?". Canadian Medical Association Journal. 189 (2): E82 – E83. doi:10.1503/cmaj.109-5362. PMC 5235935. PMID 27895144.
  17. ^ Tasker, John Paul (January 10, 2017). "The 3 new faces of Justin Trudeau's Liberal cabinet". CBC News. Archived from the original on January 10, 2017. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  18. ^ Geddes, John. "Can Justin Trudeau fix the vote with electoral reform?". Maclean's. Archived from the original on November 18, 2019. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  19. ^ a b "Minister of Democratic Institutions Mandate Letter". Office of the Prime Minister. November 12, 2015. Archived from the original on October 23, 2019. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  20. ^ Thompson, Elizabeth (October 28, 2019). "'More needs to be done,' Gould says after some online election meddling detected". CBC News. Archived from the original on October 29, 2019. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  21. ^ Lum, Zi-Ann (April 8, 2019). "Gould 'Not Feeling Great' About Social Media Giants' Response To Election Meddling Fears". HuffPost. Archived from the original on May 30, 2023. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  22. ^ Vigliotti, Marco (December 14, 2018). "Elections bill gets Royal Assent after fractious path through Parliament". iPolitics. Archived from the original on October 29, 2019. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  23. ^ Cilliers, Roland (October 22, 2019). "'This victory is not mine, it's for all of you': Liberal Karina Gould takes Burlington riding in a landslide". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on November 6, 2019. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  24. ^ "Voter Information Service - Who are the candidates in my electoral district?". Elections Canada. Archived from the original on October 30, 2019. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  25. ^ "Canada election 2019: Results from the federal election". Global News. October 24, 2019 [October 21, 2019]. Archived from the original on October 22, 2019. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  26. ^ Haws, Emily; Kapelos, Vassy (May 20, 2020) [May 18, 2020]. "Not WHO's place to be skeptical of China, says international development minister". CBC News. Archived from the original on December 21, 2022. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  27. ^ "Karina Gould on Pierre Trudeau's legacy". Maclean's. January 10, 2020. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
  28. ^ "Canada doubles dollar contribution to COVAX alliance — but still isn't sharing doses". CBC News. June 2, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
  29. ^ "Education Cannot Wait Interviews Karina Gould, Canada's Minister of International Development". Education Cannot Wait. July 2020. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
  30. ^ "Statement by International Development Minister on Appointment to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment Engagement Group". Government of Canada. January 15, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
  31. ^ Walsh, Marieke; Curry, Bill (October 28, 2021) [October 26, 2021]. "The big moves in Trudeau's cabinet shuffle". The Globe & Mail. Archived from the original on October 10, 2023. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  32. ^ "How the $10-a-day child-care deals will work in your province or territory". CBC News. March 28, 2022. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
  33. ^ "Call for proposals to help support high-quality Indigenous early learning and child care". Government of Canada. January 31, 2023. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
  34. ^ Zimonjic, Peter (May 4, 2022) [May 3, 2022]. "American women can obtain abortions in Canada if Roe v. Wade falls, minister says". CBC News. Archived from the original on May 12, 2023. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  35. ^ Keung, Nicholas (August 10, 2020). "Canada's decision to halt passport services during pandemic violated charter, court challenge alleges". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on November 2, 2023. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  36. ^ Boisvert, Nick (August 18, 2022) [August 17, 2022]. "Ottawa to offer passport pickup service in 4 additional cities, says more locations coming". CBC News. Archived from the original on September 11, 2023. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  37. ^ "After months of backlogs, Canadians can now check their passport application status online". CBC News. March 21, 2023. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
  38. ^ Hopper, Tristin (September 27, 2023). "The shambling, embarrassing aftermath of Canada feting a Nazi". National Post. Retrieved June 7, 2024.
  39. ^ "Canada's House speaker steps down after honoring man who fought for Nazis". NBC News. September 26, 2023.
  40. ^ "Justin Trudeau apologises after Nazi veteran honoured in parliament". September 27, 2023.
  41. ^ "Conservatives block Liberal motion to erase recognition of man who served with Nazis". ottawasun.com. September 25, 2023. Retrieved June 7, 2024.
  42. ^ D'Andrea, Aaron (September 27, 2023). "Liberals try to strike Hunka recognition from official record. What that means - National | Globalnews.ca". globalnews.ca. Retrieved June 7, 2024.
  43. ^ Rana, Abbas (January 4, 2025). "If Trudeau announces he's stepping down, expect another cabinet shuffle, say Liberal sources". The Hill Times. Retrieved January 5, 2025.
  44. ^ Vigliotti, Marco (January 24, 2025). "MacKinnon takes over as government House leader". iPolitics. Retrieved January 24, 2025.
  45. ^ Stone, Laura (January 5, 2018). "Karina Gould hopes becoming Canada's first federal cabinet minister to give birth while in office will set precedent". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on December 7, 2022. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  46. ^ "Karina Gould making history as first cabinet minister to take maternity leave". CBC News. February 9, 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
  47. ^ Dehaas, Josh (March 9, 2018). "Minister Karina Gould makes history with birth of baby boy". CTV News. Archived from the original on April 28, 2023. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  48. ^ "Karina Gould applauded for breastfeeding son in House of Commons". CTV News. June 21, 2018. Archived from the original on April 28, 2023. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  49. ^ https://www.facebook.com/karina.gould/posts/welcome-taya-alberto-oliver-and-i-are-overjoyed-to-introduce-the-newest-member-o/804324471506217/
  50. ^ "List of confirmed candidates – September 20, 2021 Federal Election". Elections Canada. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
  51. ^ "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  52. ^ "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  53. ^ Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Burlington, 30 September 2015
  54. ^ Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
[edit]
29th Ministry – Cabinet of Justin Trudeau
Cabinet posts (3)
Predecessor Office Successor
Maryam Monsef Minister of International Development
November 20, 2019 – October 26, 2021 		Harjit Sajjan
Maryam Monsef President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada
January 10, 2017 – July 18, 2018 		Dominic LeBlanc
Maryam Monsef Minister of Democratic Institutions
February 1, 2017 – November 20, 2019 		Dominic LeBlanc[1]
  1. ^ folded into the President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada file
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