Canadian wrestling legend Leo Burke dead at 76: ‘He was like a rock star’
Global News
Leo Burke, one of the major stars of wrestling in Atlantic Canada and Alberta in the 1970s and 1980s, died this week at the age of 76.
Leo Burke, one of the major stars of wrestling in Atlantic Canada and Alberta in the 1970s and 1980s, died on Wednesday afternoon at the age of 76.
Burke, whose real name was Léonce Cormier, was surrounded by family when he died at a nursing home in Calgary, his son Travis Cormier told Global News.
A native of Dorchester, N.B., Burke began wrestling in 1966 alongside three of his brothers.
As was often the case with French Canadians in wrestling at the time, none of the brothers wrestled under the Cormier name. Yvon Cormier wrestled as The Beast while Jean-Louis and Romeo were Rudy Kay and Bobby Kay.
But the youngest brother, Léonce, had the longest and most storied career of the four brothers who wrestled as Leo Burke.
“The promoters actually selected the name and that name actually stuck,” Travis Cormier said.
Burke travelled the globe, with stints wrestling in Puerto Rico and Japan as well as across the U.S. and Canada, but his star shone brightest while wrestling in Atlantic Canada and Alberta.
Industry Minister Melanie Joly told the House of Commons committee on international trade the move breaches federal contracts tied to manufacturing in Brampton and Windsor, Ont.
A targeted home invasion and kidnapping led to a gunpoint standoff with police and an overnight chase across Toronto. Two suspects remain at large, investigators say.
In a post on his LinkedIn account, Simon Donner says he resigned on Tuesday and he is grateful for the opportunity to help shape climate policy in Canada.
The development charges can vary greatly from city to city, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation report found.
The three leaders will be in Washington, D.C., for the FIFA World Cup draw, marking the first time they will be in the same room together.
Flu season has arrived early, with CHEO reporting eight times more cases than last year as hospitals warn of rising infections among children and seniors.
Nova Scotia’s largest utility is responding to a stinging letter from Premier Tim Houston by insisting it hasn't broken any laws.
A British Columbia Liberal MP said Prime Minister Mark Carney "will have to answer" questions on why he reversed a budget commitment on tax credits in Alberta energy deal.
AFN Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak has said Budget 2025 failed First Nations because it did not include more infrastructure funding and educational resources for their communities.
Conservation officers in B.C. say they've captured four more grizzly bears that are being tested to determine if they were involved in an attack on a school group last month.
Joshua Wright says a yellow cedar tree he photographed last year was "incredible," the largest he'd ever seen in a decade of hiking around Vancouver Island.
Canadians could face grocery bills up to $1,000 higher in 2026 as food prices rise 4-6 per cent, with restaurants and meat seeing the biggest jumps.
Despite a growing homelessness problem in the South Okanagan city, council voted 4-2 against the project and the millions of provincial dollars that would come along with it.