Bourassa lost the 1976 election and his own MNA seat to the
Parti Québécois under
René Lévesque, in part due to the editorial position of
Le Devoir under Ryan's stewardship. Subsequently, Ryan won the
1978 Quebec Liberal Party leadership election and served as party leader from 1978 to 1982, where he opposed Lévesque in two prominent campaigns (a referendum and an election). Ryan led the victorious "No" side in the
1980 Quebec referendum on sovereignty which captured 60% of the vote. One particular turning point in the campaign was when Quebec PQ cabinet minister
Lise Payette criticized Ryan's wife, Madeleine, as an "Yvette," a stay-at-home character in a popular Quebec storybook, then further suggesting that all females who were against sovereignty were acting as "Yvettes". This attack outraged many women voters in Quebec, especially since Madeleine Ryan was very active in political and social circles. Madeleine herself responded by organizing a
brunch des Yvettes at the
Château Frontenac on March 30. A week later, 14,000 women gathered at the
Montreal Forum to denounce Payette's remarks. By nearly all accounts, many women voted "No" in the referendum out of anger at this insult. Nonetheless, Pierre Trudeau was particularly critical of Ryan. Trudeau first criticized the performance of the Quebec Liberal Party, saying it was "drowning in a swamp of its own verbiage" during a televised National Assembly debate on sovereignty, in contrast to the Parti Québécois which had masterfully coordinated its speakers. Trudeau also said that Ryan's initial campaign efforts of talking to small groups of people was insufficient, which resulted in the federal cabinet minister
Jean Chrétien being sent in to help the federalist side. That helped to perpetuate the strained relationship between Ryan and Trudeau. Ryan then led the party into the
1981 provincial election. His Liberals finished just 3% behind the PQ in the popular vote, but the latter won twice as many seats; Quebec elections have typically seen large discrepancies between raw votes and seat counts. The loss was widely blamed on Ryan's campaign style, which was criticized for being old-fashioned and ill-suited for the television age. Notably, he refused to tailor sound bites for the evening news. Ryan was succeeded as MNA opposition leader and party chief by Bourassa, who was making a political comeback. Ryan was the last non-interim Liberal leader who did not become premier until Dominique Anglade. After the Liberals regained power under Bourassa in the
1985 election, Ryan became one of the most important members of the government and served as
Minister of Education. He was also Minister of municipal affairs, public safety and minister responsible for the Charter of the French language. He also served in the cabinet led by Daniel Johnson. Many in English Canada might remember Ryan for his work against the establishment of an independent Quebec. Those who followed his career, as a publisher and later as a politician, noted that he also opposed the existing federal status quo, which he considered as too centralized, despite statements to the contrary by Canadian Prime Minister
Pierre Elliott Trudeau. ==Retirement==