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Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks to reporters on Parliament Hill on Aug. 18. His adviser Tom Pitfield shares principal-secretary duties with former cabinet minister David Lametti in the PMO.PATRICK DOYLE/The Canadian Press
Tom Pitfield, a top lieutenant to Prime Minister Mark Carney and long-time Liberal Party campaign strategist, is one of the largest shareholders in a marketing and analytics company that has for years been working on behalf of Big Tobacco in Canada and globally, two sources say.
The sources told The Globe and Mail that Mr. Pitfield, who shares principal-secretary duties with former cabinet minister David Lametti in the Prime Minister’s Office, stands to benefit financially from a potential sale of Montreal-based Data Sciences, which he founded in 2014 and whose major client is Philip Morris International.
The Globe is not identifying the sources, who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Aside from Data Sciences’ work for Philip Morris, the company’s other major client is the Liberal Party of Canada. Data Sciences has overseen the party’s digital operations during election campaigns, in which Mr. Pitfield held the title of chief digital strategist under Justin Trudeau and Mr. Carney.
Philip Morris is the world’s largest tobacco company and earned more than US$37-billion in revenue last year, nearly two-thirds from cigarettes. But with Canada and other countries putting stricter measures in place to combat smoking, the Fortune 500 company is pushing new non-cigarette alternatives, such as vapes and heated tobacco.
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Mr. Pitfield would have been required to put his holdings in a blind trust after joining the government, and it is not a breach of government ethics to have worked for companies connected to the tobacco industry.
However, Mr. Pitfield’s business connections to a large tobacco company do not fit with current and past Liberal governments’ record of pushing stricter measures to discourage Canadians from smoking and using tobacco products because of the health risks.
Ottawa is trying to reduce tobacco use by regulating packaging and funding stop-smoking measures and youth prevention programs, as well as enacting regulations against vaping products. The federal government prohibits sales of vaping products to minors and limits nicotine concentration. It is also under pressure to ban flavoured vaping products to counter high youth vaping rates.
It is not known whether Mr. Pitfield has informed Mr. Carney that Data Sciences has been working to promote vaping products such as heated tobacco, nicotine pouches and e-vapour for Philip Morris and Rothmans, Benson & Hedges – its Canadian subsidiary.
The Globe submitted a list of detailed questions to Mr. Pitfield and the PMO to ask whether Mr. Carney knew about his principal secretary’s connections to Philip Morris.
Mr. Pitfield did not respond, but the PMO issued a statement saying that he left Data Sciences before taking up his government duties.
“He has been employed by the Prime Minister’s Office since March 2025, aside from taking a leave without pay during the federal election,” the statement said.
“He has consulted with the Office of the Ethics Commissioner on his transition plan and is following all instructions from the office. Questions about any private firm would be best directed to the company in question.”
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Mr. Pitfield’s spouse, Anna Gainey, is the government’s Secretary of State for Children and Youth. She was Liberal Party president from 2014 to 2018.
Les Hagen, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health, said Mr. Pitfield’s senior position in the PMO raises serious ethical questions, particularly since tobacco kills 46,000 Canadians annually.
“We are definitely concerned about any government official who has been recently engaged with tobacco companies and could be involved with the development of health policy,” he said. “We believe that could be a violation of the World Health Organization Convention on Tobacco Control to which Canada is a founding party.”
The WHO convention states that governments should not collaborate with tobacco companies and their allies on health matters. Mr. Hagen said at the very least Mr. Pitfield should recuse himself from any decisions involving health policy.
Mr. Hagen said it could be excusable if the Prime Minister was unaware of Mr. Pitfield’s involvement with Big Tobacco, but that can no longer be the case. He noted that before he entered politics, Mr. Carney was chair of Bloomberg L.P., and its philanthropic arm funded global efforts against tobacco use.
The two sources told The Globe that Data Sciences has been looking for equity investors. A potential investor with knowledge of a confidential Data Sciences corporate presentation said the company’s work for Philip Morris extends to other countries in Asia, including Japan.
Japan was the first launch market for Philip Morris’s heated tobacco products. Documents leaked last year to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism reveal that Philip Morris has tried to influence anti-vaping strategies and public opinion in Japan through covert academic funding and lobbying of politicians and medical professionals.
As part of the Data Sciences documents presented to investors, one of the sources said the company’s founding shareholders stand to benefit from any growth in the company.
Data Sciences intends to use any new equity investment for acquisitions with the goal of eventually going public, the source said.
A federal government corporate registry says Mr. Pitfield “owns, controls or directs 25 per cent or more of shares” of Data Sciences and “up to 50 per cent of the shares.” The registry information was last updated on June 30.
Another major owner of Data Sciences, according to the registry, is Luc Ménard, and the disclosure says he owns “at least 25 per cent and up to 50 per cent of the shares.”
The Montreal address given for Mr. Ménard matches that of Norea Capital, a private-equity company. The name of Norea’s president and managing partner, according to the company’s website, is Luc Ménard.
Interim NDP Leader Don Davies and Heather McPherson, the party’s foreign affairs and trade critic, both registered concern about the work done by Mr. Pitfield’s company.
“It’s disturbing and concerning someone so close to the Prime Minister is so closely associated with big tobacco, a major purveyor of carcinogens, which is inconsistent with official government policy,” Mr. Davies said.
Added Ms. McPherson: “Honestly, I think you’ve got to sort of check your moral compass if you’re profiting from the sale of tobacco products,” she said. “They have been shown to be one of the most mercenary and gruesome sectors there is.”
