P. Michael Pitfield has had a long and distinguished career in Canadian public service, including over a quarter-century as senator for Ottawa-Vanier, Ontario.
While in the Senate in 1983, he was chairman of the Special Committee of the Senate on the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, and in that same year, Canadian Representative at the thirty-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly. From 1984 to 2003, he was vice-chairman of Power Corporation and a director of Power Financial Corporation, the Great-West Life Assurance Company, Great-West Life and Annuity Insurance Company, Great-West Lifeco Inc., Investors Group, La Presse, and Journaux Trans-Canada. From 1997 to 2003, he served as a director of London Insurance Group, Inc., and London Life Insurance Company. In 2003, he became director emeritus of Power Corporation of Canada. In 2001, he became honorary chair of the Parkinson Society Canada. For nearly two decades, he served on the Board of Directors of the Ottawa Heart Institute and from 1994 to 2000, was chairman of the Board of Directors.
He is a member of the Bar of the Province of Québec and the Bar of Montréal. He was appointed a federal queen’s counsel in 1972, a companion of the Royal Victorian Order in 1982, and a member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada in 1984.
From 1979 to 1980, he was MacKenzie King Professor of Canadian Studies at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
>He received a BS from St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York, a BCL from McGill University, and a DESD from the University of Ottawa.