The same year, with his parents, Léo moved to Sorel, Quebec, because of his father's work in Ottawa as a civil servant.

He and four other soldiers transported the dying officer on a stretcher as they crossed a battlefield under German artillery fire.

The General in charge spotted the heroic act and as a result, the five soldiers were each awarded a Military Medal.

[7] He was elected as the Liberal candidate to the House of Commons of Canada for the Quebec electoral district of Outremont in a by-election on November 30, 1942, called after the MP at the time, Thomas Vien, resigned.

On August 19, 1952, he also held this position in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as he officially took his post as the Canadian ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary in charge of the diplomatic relations with neighbouring Uruguay.