The defeat of the Progressive Conservative government of Prime Minister Joe Clark on a non-confidence motion occurred after Pierre Trudeau had announced his resignation as Liberal Party leader.
Bussières quickly announced that the Quebec caucus unanimously supported Trudeau's return as leader, and urged the former prime minister] to rescind his resignation.
The Liberals were elected with a majority government, and Trudeau appointed Bussières to cabinet as Minister of State for finance.
[1] Bussières was not included in the cabinet of Trudeau's successor, John Turner, which was formed in June 1984.
Nevertheless, he was a candidate in the 1984 federal election, but was defeated as the Liberals lost government and were reduced to forty seats in the House of Commons.