The Honourable
Karina Gould
PC MP
Gould in 2021
Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Assumed office
July 26, 2023
Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau
Preceded byMark Holland
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 byPosition abolished
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
Assumed office
October 19, 2015
Preceded byMike Wallace
Personal details
Born (1987-06-28) June 28, 1987
Political partyLiberal
SpouseAlberto Gerones
Children1
Residence(s)Burlington, Ontario
Alma mater
Websitekgould.liberal.ca

Karina Gould PC MP (born June 28, 1987) is a Canadian politician who has been the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons since July 26, 2023. A 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 the minister of democratic institutions, serving in the role until she was appointed as the 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.

Early life and career

Gould was born on June 28, 1987,[1] growing up in Burlington, Ontario in a family with three brothers.[2] Her paternal grandparents were Czech Jews who survived the Holocaust. Her mother is German and met her father while on a kibbutz in Israel.[3] 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,[4] she spent the next year volunteering at an orphanage in Mexico, where she met her husband, Alberto Gerones.[5]

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.[6][2]

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.[2] 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).[7]

Gould subsequently completed a master's degree in international relations at St Hilda's College, Oxford.[8] 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.[2] 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

2015 Canadian federal election

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.[2][9] She 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%.[8][10]

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."[11]

Parliamentary Secretary

Gould was named the parliamentary secretary to the minister of international development and La Francophonie on December 2, 2015.[2][12] 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.[13] 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.[2]

Minister of Democratic Institutions

On January 10, 2017, she was named Minister of Democratic Institutions, succeeding Maryam Monsef.[14] She also became the President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada.[1] These appointments made her the youngest female Cabinet minister in Canadian history, taking office at the age of twenty-nine.[8]

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.[15][16] 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.[16][17][18] Gould has been credited as being instrumental in not 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.[19]

2019 Canadian federal election

Running as the incumbent in the 2019 Canadian federal election, Gould was re-elected to her seat.[20] 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%.[21] 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.[22]

Minister for International Development

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 is 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.[23]

Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and Government House Leader

Gould was shuffled to the families, children and social development portfolio on October 26, 2021.[24] 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.[25]

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".[26] 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.[27]

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.[28] 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.[29][30] This motion was criticized and blocked by the opposition.[31][32]

Personal life

Gould married her husband, Alberto Gerones, in 2010.[33] 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.[34][35] Her breastfeeding her then three-month-old son during question period in the House of Commons attracted media attention during June 2018.[36]

Electoral record

2021 Canadian federal election: Burlington
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
LiberalKarina Gould31,60245.7–2.9$108,267.63
ConservativeEmily Brown25,74237.3+4.1$99,594.92
New DemocraticNick Page7,50710.9+0.7$9,478.98
People'sMichael Bator2,7644.0+2.7$7,469.57
GreenChristian Cullis1,3682.0–4.6$1,096.10
RhinocerosJevin David Carroll1220.2N/A$0.00
Total valid votes/Expense limit 69,10599.4–$126,483.23
Total rejected ballots 4240.6
Turnout 69,52969.7
Eligible voters 99,734
Liberal hold Swing –3.5
Source: Elections Canada[37]
2019 Canadian federal election: Burlington
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
LiberalKarina Gould34,98948.61+2.63$106,261.57
ConservativeJane Michael23,93033.24–9.24$86,302.63
New DemocraticLenaee Dupuis7,37210.24+1.14$31,070.76
GreenGareth Williams4,7506.60+4.16$6,940.18
People'sPeter Smetana9441.31$5,500.00
Total valid votes/expense limit 71,98599.17
Total rejected ballots 6000.83+0.45
Turnout 72,58572.44–0.76
Eligible voters 100,201
Liberal hold Swing +5.93
Source: Elections Canada[38][39]
2015 Canadian federal election: Burlington
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
LiberalKarina Gould32,22945.98+22.74$104,313.08
ConservativeMike Wallace29,78042.48–11.66$105,053.18
New DemocraticDavid Laird6,3819.10–9.75$28,503.64
GreenVince Fiorito1,7102.44–1.10$1,631.97
Total valid votes/expense limit 70,10099.63 $239,840.79
Total rejected ballots 2630.37
Turnout 70,36373.20
Eligible voters 96,126
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing +17.20
Source: Elections Canada[40][41]

References

  1. 1 2 "GOULD, The Hon. Karina, P.C." Library of Parliament. Archived from the original on January 18, 2017. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 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.
  3. ↑ 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.
  4. ↑ "Meet Hon. Karina Gould". Liberal Party of Canada. Archived from the original on October 28, 2019. Retrieved October 26, 2019.
  5. ↑ 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.
  6. ↑ Le Cannellier, Clara. "From McGill to Parliament Hill". McGill University. Archived from the original on November 4, 2019. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  7. ↑ "SICREMI Report 2011" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 4, 2019. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  8. 1 2 3 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.
  9. ↑ 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.
  10. ↑ "Voter Information Service - Past Results: Burlington (Ontario)". Elections Canada. Archived from the original on October 20, 2015. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  11. ↑ 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.
  12. ↑ "Parliamentary Secretaries" (PDF). Privy Council of Canada. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 8, 2015. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  13. ↑ 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. Archived from the original on July 28, 2021. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  14. ↑ 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.
  15. ↑ 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.
  16. 1 2 "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.
  17. ↑ 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.
  18. ↑ 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.
  19. ↑ 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.
  20. ↑ 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.
  21. ↑ "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.
  22. ↑ "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.
  23. ↑ 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.
  24. ↑ 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.
  25. ↑ 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.
  26. ↑ 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.
  27. ↑ 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.
  28. ↑ https://nationalpost.com/opinion/shambling-embarrassing-aftermath-of-canada-feting-a-nazi
  29. ↑ "Canada's House speaker steps down after honoring man who fought for Nazis". NBC News. September 26, 2023.
  30. ↑ "Justin Trudeau apologises after Nazi veteran honoured in parliament". September 27, 2023.
  31. ↑ https://ottawasun.com/news/national/conservatives-block-liberals-motion-to-erase-recognition-of-nazi-praise-incident
  32. ↑ "Liberals try to strike Hunka recognition from official record. What that means - National | Globalnews.ca".
  33. ↑ 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.
  34. ↑ "Karina Gould making history as first cabinet minister to take maternity leave". CBC News. February 9, 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
  35. ↑ 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.
  36. ↑ "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.
  37. ↑ "List of confirmed candidates – September 20, 2021 Federal Election". Elections Canada. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
  38. ↑ "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  39. ↑ "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  40. ↑ Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Burlington, 30 September 2015
  41. ↑ Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
  1. ↑ folded into the President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada file
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