François-Philippe Champagne


François-Philippe Champagne is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent the riding of Saint-Maurice—Champlain in the House of Commons in the 2015 federal election. He is a member of the Liberal Party serving as the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs since November 20, 2019.

Career

Champagne was raised in Shawinigan, Quebec, and studied law at the Université de Montréal and Case Western Reserve University School of Law. After several years working as a senior attorney for Elsag Bailey Process Automation, he joined ABB Group in 1999, eventually rising to group vice president and senior counsel. In 2008 he joined Amec PLC as a strategic development director, and was designated a "young global leader" by the World Economic Forum. In an interview with The Globe and Mail in 2009, Champagne expressed his desire to eventually return to Canada and enter politics, citing fellow Shawinigan resident Jean Chrétien as an inspiration.
Subsequently, returning to Canada, he became involved in a variety of business and non-profit ventures. He became the Liberal candidate for Saint-Maurice—Champlain, and was elected to Parliament on October 19, 2015.
In June 2020, it was reported that Champagne had two more mortgages with the state-owned Bank of China, raising questions of potential vulnerability to foreign influence.
Champagne has stated he is trilingual, speaking English, French and Italian.

Electoral record