Edmund Burke Society

The Edmund Burke Society was a populist, multi ethnic, conservative organization formed by Paul Fromm, Don Andrews, and Leigh Smith in 1967 at the University of Toronto. The group was anti-communist and promoted conservative values. Its members soon became involved in violent confrontations with anti-war groups and leftists in Toronto.

The group's main focus was opposition to the New Left and other left wing tendencies that were prominent during the period and which the Burkers identified with Communism. During the 1968 federal election, they distributed leaflets accusing the new Liberal Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau, of being a communist. The "Burkers" were involved in disrupting various left-wing events and rallies, often violently. In 1970, the group disrupted a speech by William Kunstler resulting in the Chicago Seven's lawyer drenching EBSer Paul Fromm with a pitcher of water. A melee between Burkers and Kunstler's supporters ensued and Fromm was knocked unconscious to the floor. According to a report by the Security Intelligence Review Committee, In 1971, one Burker, Geza Matrai, a Hungarian refugee, attacked Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin during his visit to Canada. Matrai jumped on Kosygin's back, dragging him halfway to the ground before being arrested.

EBS members of the Ontario Social Credit Party in the early 1970s managing to take it over by 1972 when the Social Credit Party of Canada expelled them resulting in two rival Ontario Social Credit parties existing for several years. In 1971, three of five Ontario Social Credit candidates in the 1971 provincial eleciton were identified as EBS members. In In 1972 the Edmund Burke Society, as the result of major internal clashes over political metrology and fundamental ideology self-destructed.