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Hon. Karina Gould

Member of Parliament
Leader of the Government in the House of Commons (on parental leave)
Liberal

Burlington
Ontario
Voting Attendance: 65%
Expenses Last Quarter: $131,115.10

Government Page

Context: House Hansard - 213 - Jun/14/23

Jun/14/23 7:44:11 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-35

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for that important question. We will not have a high-quality, accessible, affordable, inclusive child care system without the workforce to deliver it. Of course, the workforce forms the backbone and the heart of our child care initiative. With every agreement we have signed on child care, we have ensured that the provinces and territories have to do a couple of things to access those funds, the first of which is to create a wage grid and make sure they are paying an adequate wage to our ECEs. They have work to do when it comes to building a workforce recruitment and retention strategy. We have seen provinces and territories engage in different activities across the country. For example, Manitoba has brought forward a provincial pension and benefits plan for ECEs. B.C. is doing really important work on increasing the wages of ECEs and is working on new ways to ensure it is bringing qualified ECEs into the workforce. I could go on and talk about every province and territory, but a lot of work is happening in that space.

187 words

Context: House Hansard - 207 - Jun/6/23

Hon. Karina Gould

Jun/6/23 3:44:43 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-35

Mr. Speaker, I, too, was very pleased to see the opening of the Prince George passport office. There will be about 20 additional offices that will be providing passport services across the country over the coming months. I do want to commend the leadership of the Government of British Columbia when it comes to workforce. It has some very innovative ideas when it comes to recruitment and retention. One of the things that they are leading the country on when it comes to recruitment is that they have created a new high school accreditation program for ECEs that is going to allow high school students to do their grade 11 and 12 combined with the college ECE program, so that once they graduate from high school, they can enter straight into the child care workforce. It is innovative ideas like these, which are happening through the funding that we have provided to the provinces and territories, that are really going to make a difference when it comes to recruitment and retention. The federal government will continue to work in partnership with provinces and territories, to ensure that we address the challenges that we are facing within the child care sector.

200 words

All Topics

Context: House Hansard - 203 - May/31/23

Hon. Karina Gould

May/31/23 6:54:52 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-35

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her collaboration on this. I am absolutely thrilled we are here, continuing to advance early learning and child care and putting it into legislation, so I thank her for that collaboration. Yes, we do need to address the workforce challenges. In each of the bilateral agreements we have, we encourage and work with provinces and territories for them to bring forward recruitment and retention strategies, and some provinces have done great work in that regard. B.C., for example, has done a $4-an-hour wage top-up for all workers within child care. Manitoba has brought forward a pension and benefits plan. The Yukon has put forward a minimum wage for ECEs, starting at $30 an hour. There is good work going on, but yes, we need something much more national in scope. That is why at the FPT meeting I am hosting this summer with my provincial and territorial counterparts, the number one item on the agenda is workforce, because we are not going to be able to maintain or create those spaces without that workforce.

188 words

SoVote

Leader of the Government in the House of Commons (on parental leave)

Hon. Karina Gould