During the campaign for the 1980 Quebec referendum Payette denounced women supporters of the "No" side as Yvettes (the name of a docile young girl in an old school textbook). She went so far as calling Claude Ryan's wife, Madeleine Guay, an Yvette. This backfired spectacularly as "the Yvettes", led by Madeleine Guay, held a number of political rallies in response to her remarks. As Donald Brittain put it in his documentary series of René Lévesque and Pierre Elliott Trudeau, "The Champions", "The "old" women were proud to be 'Yvettes'. The "young" women resented being 'Yvettes'. Payette had galvanized them into a fighting force". The first of those rallies happened on March 30 when a group of 1,700 women held the "brunch des Yvettes" at the Château Frontenac in Quebec City. A major rally occurred at the Montreal Forum on April 7 when 14,000 women denounced the minister's declarations about women and manifested their support for the "No" side. This was the first major rally for the "No" side in the campaign. This would be followed by many more rallies, particularly by women groups. Lise Payette would eventually apologize for her remarks.