Karina Gould PC MP is a Canadian politician who became the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development since October 26, 2021. A member of the Liberal Party, she serves as a Member of Parliament and has represented the riding of Burlington in the House of Commons since October 19, 2015. Lolo Ngozi Ugoh catches up with her recently and she talks about herself, affordable healthcare for Canadians, mental health fund for Black Public Servants, and the budget.
Check out the interview below:
NC News: I learnt that you would be coming to Toronto this afternoon for a special event.
KARINA GOULD: Yes.
NC News: To start with, tell us more about the event.
KARINA GOULD: Yes. Sure. So, I was named one of the Top 25 Women of Influence in Canada for this year and so I am on my way to Toronto right now for this award ceremony.
NC News: Congratulations.
KARINA GOULD: Thank you.
NC News: Please tell us a little bit about yourself.
KARINA GOULD: I am a Member of the Parliament and I am the Federal Ministry of Families, Children and Social Development. I am the youngest woman to be appointed to youth cabinet in Canada’s history and the thing I am working on right now that I am most proud of is the delivery of affordable child care for Canadians.
NC News: Tell us more about it.
KARINA GOULD: So, as of December, child care fee under licensed childcare has been reduced by 50% for families in Ontario. That could be between 6,000 and 8,000 dollars less. Manitoba and Newfoundland childcare is 10 dollars a day.
NC News: Does this apply to only government-owned childcare centres?
KARINA GOULD: It is for anyone who is licensed. They could be private or Not-for-Profit so long it is licensed.
NC News: Must one be between a certain age bracket to be qualified?
KARINA GOULD: No.
NC News: How does one qualify?
KARINA GOULD: It is available to anyone who has a space in a licensed childcare centre.
NC News: According to the budget, 45.9 million dollars will be invested over 3 years starting from 2023 to create a mental health fund for Black Public servants and establish educated career development programme to prepare Black Public servants and service leaders for executive positions. Judging from the issue of systematic racism that has remained prevalent in the nation, don’t you think that having a separate mental health fund for Blacks will further escalate the discrimination? Are there feasibility of the government establishing dedicated career development programme for blacks? Why wait till now? Also, do you think there are adequate provisions for blacks in the budget?
KARINA GOULD: My understanding is that the mental health support listed in the budget for Black Public Servants is in response to the ask from the Black Public Servants community as well as additional professional development support recognizing that systemic racism has had a detrimental impact on mental health of Black Public Servants but also has limited their career growth not because of their capability but because of systemic racism that is present.
It should have been in place for a long time but because of systemic racism that has been present for such a long time. It is only now that we are acting on it.
NC News: Do you think the budget covers enough developmental issues? What are the other areas you think the government should look at?
KARINA GOULD: I think what’s important about this budget is that it has important context because for example, in last year’s budget, we spent 10 billion dollars for housing. We don’t have a lot on housing for this year because the 10 billion from last year’s budget was not for one year. It was for over a number of years. Same thing can be said for childcare. There is additional money for childcare in this budget because in 2021, we put 30 billion dollars for five years in to the budget.
This budget is really focused, which is on affordability, with regard to healthcare and increasing the house transfer as well as introducing a Canadian benefit plan that focusses on a couple of key initiative benefits that fits into the broader objectives of the government of Canada.
NC News: We know that this budget is titled ‘Made-in-Canada plan strong middle class affordable economy healthy future.’ The government applies several plans for the betterment of the country. Did the government make any special plan for your Ministry? What are the challenges your Ministry is facing and hope to tackle with this budget?
KARINA GOULD: For my Ministry, one of the big programs in here is the 25 million dollars for supporting Black Canadian communities. That’s a program I am responsible for and I am really proud of and that’s an important initiative in my department and there is also a considerable support for providing services to Canadians. I am also responsible for Service Canada so that’s an important endorsement to make sure that we can continue to deliver services to Canadians in an effective and efficient way and in terms of challenges, this is a difficult time for Canadians as the world is currently battling inflation, there is war in Ukraine and so on. We are certainly not immune to any of that in Canada or in my department. So, just looking at how we can continue to be there for Canadians and one of the exciting things in the budget is the new Canada dental benefit which will provide dental care to children who are under the age of 18, seniors, and people with disabilities who meet the income criteria and do not have insurance.
