After serving in opposition for two years, the Ontario Liberal Party formed a minority government following the 1985 election. Wrye, who represented a large working-class constituency, was appointed Minister of Labour on June 26, 1985.[4] As Labour Minister, Wrye brought forward legislation providing automatic yearly adjustments of workers-compensation benefits to the consumer price index.
Wrye was a party delegate supporting Dwight Duncan at the Liberal Party's 1996 leadership convention. After Duncan's elimination, he shifted his allegiance to Gerard Kennedy (Windsor Star, December 3, 1996). In 2003, Wrye was named as executive assistant to Duncan, who was by this time the government house leader and Liberal Member of Provincial Parliament for Windsor—St. Clair. Ironically, Duncan had once been a member of Wrye's staff.