2015 Canadian federal election 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%. 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. 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."
Parliamentary Secretary Gould was named the
parliamentary secretary to the
minister of international development and
La Francophonie on December 2, 2015. 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. 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. She also became the
President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada. Instead, Gould's mandate included commitments to strengthen Canada's democratic institutions and improve Canada's democratic process by addressing cyber threats, like online meddling and the spread of disinformation from social media giants, and combatting foreign interference. 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.
2019 Canadian federal election Running as the incumbent in the 2019 Canadian federal election, Gould was re-elected to her seat. Gould's hometown support grew as her 2019 results surpassed that of 2015, winning 48.6% of the vote to Conservative Jane Michael's 33.2%. With her party winning just 157 seats as opposed to the 177 held prior, Gould's growing support in this key southern Ontario riding enabled the Liberals to obtain a minority government in the 2019 Canadian federal election.
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 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. 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. Gould assisted in leading Canada’s global efforts in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. 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. 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.
Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Gould was shuffled to the families, children and social development portfolio on October 26, 2021. As Minister, Gould was responsible for signing 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. 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. 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. During the spring and summer of 2022, the government received criticism regarding long passport processing times, which fell under Gould's 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". 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. 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.
Leader of the Government in the House of Commons 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. Amid the
Yaroslav Hunka scandal, 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. This motion was criticized and blocked by the opposition. In November 2023, Gould accused the
Leader of the Official Opposition, Pierre Poilievre, of "American-style, right-wing politics" after he voted against a free-trade agreement with Ukraine because it included a provision that both sides would "promote carbon pricing".
2025 leadership campaign Gould announced her candidacy in the
2025 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election, to succeed Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau. She resigned as Government House Leader to run in the race and was replaced on January 24, 2025, by
Steven MacKinnon, who had stood in for her during her maternity leave in 2024. Gould said she would introduce a
universal basic income program if she won the leadership election and became Canada's next prime minister. Gould acknowledged her government mishandled the affordability crisis and had not responded well to the issues that mattered the most to Canadians. She stated she would keep consumer carbon pricing but would stop the April 2025 increase if elected, adding she got into politics to stop climate change. Gould placed third in the election, behind both victor
Mark Carney and runner-up
Chrystia Freeland, with just over 3% of the vote. When forming the
new government, Carney left Gould out of cabinet, and immediately removed the consumer carbon tax.
2025 Canadian federal election Gould was re-elected to her seat for a fourth term in the
2025 Canadian federal election, winning over 55% of the vote in her
Burlington riding. She was elected chair of the
Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance in the
45th Canadian Parliament in 2025. == Personal life ==