[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.

[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.

[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.

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][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.

[24] 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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

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.

[40][41] Gould announced her candidacy in the 2025 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election, to succeed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

[42] 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.