television had recently been introduced to the quebec national assembly, and the legislative debate on the referendum question was scheduled for prime time live viewing on march 4, 1980. the debate lasted two weeks, and the result was a pq success and a disaster for the provincial liberals. the pq cabinet, coordinated by house leader claude charron, provided detailed outlines of their files and the benefits they said sovereignty would provide them. the liberals did not consider that the television audience would view their quick and taunting retorts about the referendum question to be insubstantial compared to the lengthy and detailed speeches of pq members. the liberals seemed to lack preparation and ryan, unaware of the television cameras, was caught yawning on a few occasions during liberal interventions.