Sid Ryan

Patrick Cyril (Sid) Ryan (born in Dublin, Ireland) is a Canadian labour union leader and politician. He has been the president of the Ontario chapter of the Canadian Union of Public Employees since 1992, and is a vice president of the Ontario Federation of Labour.

Ryan is an intense and charismatic speaker, known for his fiery opposition to right-wing and anti-union politicians. He was a particularly vocal opponent of former Ontario Premier Mike Harris during the late 1990s, and helped to coordinate several protests by the labour movement against Harris's government. Ryan's enemies have accused him of being a demagogue. Some, noting his support for groups such as the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, have also accused him of being too far to the left.

In addition to his union activities, Ryan has been involved with the New Democratic Party since the 1980s. He has served on the Ontario NDP's provincial council and Environment committee, and was president of the Durham Centre riding association for a time. Ryan's affiliation with the Ontario NDP became tenuous in the early 1990s, when the party moved in a rightward direction under Bob Rae's leadership; he has subsequently re-aligned himself with the party under Howard Hampton.

Ryan has stood as an NDP candidate in three federal and provincial campaigns, but has not to date won election to a legislative body. He contested Scarborough Centre in the 1999 provincial election, and finished third behind Progressive Conservative incumbent Marilyn Mushinski and Liberal Costas Manios. In the 2003 provincial election, he campaigned in Oshawa and came within 1,109 votes of defeating PC incumbent Jerry Ouellette.

Ryan again stood as a candidate for Oshawa in the 2004 federal election, and lost to Conservative Colin Carrie by 463 votes in a very close three-way race.

On more than one occasion, Ryan's election losses have been cited as proof of the dangers of tactical voting. Following the 2004 election, a poll found that the number of voters who initially planned to vote for Ryan, but then changed their vote to the Liberals minute to prevent a Conservative victory, significantly exceeded the narrow margin of Ryan's loss. Ironically, of course, this resulted in the election of a Conservative candidate.