In 1927, he got a job in the Publicity Department of the Canadian National Railway (CNR) in Winnipeg and from then on was assured of financial stability.
In Ayre’s capacity as a journalist, he attended the Kingston Conference in 1941, and helped found the Federation of Canadian Artists, and having moved back to Winnipeg in 1942, working for the CNR'S Trans-Canada Air Lines, became Chairman for the Federation, Manitoba Region from 1942 to 1943.
[1] In 1944, he moved back to Montreal and besides his regular job at the CNR, lectured on radio and at McGill University's Extension department on Canadian art.
[1][2] He was a founding member of the Canadian chapter of the International Art Critics Association (AICA Canada), established in 1955.
[4]Ayre also wrote a number of short stories and is the author of Sketco the Raven (1961), based on West Coast First Nation legends.