Life and Career
Beauchamp was born in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec. Beauchamp studied at Université de Montréal and obtained a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1985. Between 1987 and 1998 she became the director of several community and social institutions including Montreal's non-profit and community radio station CIBL-FM. She was also involved heavily in business affairs and social and economic development in Montreal's east end.
Beauchamp entered provincial politics in 1998 when she was elected in the riding of Sauvé on October 30, 1998, becoming opposition critic in culture and communications. She was eventually re-elected in Bourassa-Sauvé when the Liberals regained power in the 2003 elections. She would be subsequently named Minister of Culture and Communications while also becoming minister responsible for the Montreal region for the full mandate. She would also be a member of several parliamentary committees including social, educational and cultural development, citizenship and culture and decentralization and regions. She would also participate in several organizations in regard to relations between other countries or regions including Belgium and Catalonia. During her first term, she was involved in the opening of the National Library of Quebec in downtown Montreal.
After the Liberals were re-elected in 2007 in a minority government, Jean Charest named Beauchamp Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks replacing Claude Béchard, who assumed the Natural Resources portfolio after the defeat of Pierre Corbeil. She was replaced in her Culture and Communications portfolio by former Radio-Canada journalist Christine St-Pierre, while then Economic Development Minister Raymond Bachand took Beauchamp's responsibilities in regard to affairs surrounding the Montreal region.
After the 2008 election, she kept the same portfolios and was also named Deputy House Leader to Jacques Dupuis. After a cabinet shuffle in 2010, she was named Minister of Education, Leisure and Sports, replacing Michelle Courchesne, who became president of the treasury board. Following the resignation of Nathalie Normandeau, Beauchamp also became Deputy Premier of Quebec on September 7, 2011.
Beauchamp had been the Liberals' point person in the ongoing tuition fee debate in Quebec. Her position had always remained the same from the get-go: that tuition had to be increased in order to properly fund Quebec universities. On May 14, 2012, during the student strike that had continued since February, Beauchamp resigned her ministerial positions and her seat as an MNA, claiming that she was no longer part of the solution. She was succeeded as Minister and as Deputy Premier by Michelle Courchesne, her predecessor in the education portfolio.
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