Osie F. Villeneuve was a longtime politician in Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario

Legislative Assembly of Ontario

The Legislative Assembly of Ontario , is the legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario, and is the second largest provincial legislature of Canada...

 and the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

, and was an elected representative almost continuously from the 1940s until his death.

Villeneuve was born in Maxville, Ontario, and educated in the area. He worked as a livestock dealer, served on the local school board on council, and was reeve of the Maxville in 1948.

He first sought election to the Ontario legislature in the 1945 provincial election

Ontario general election, 1945

The Ontario general election of 1945 was held on June 4, 1945, to elect the 90 members of the 22nd Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the Province of Ontario, Canada....

. He ran for the Progressive Conservative Party

Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario

The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario , is a right-of-centre political party in Ontario, Canada. The party was known for many years as "Ontario's natural governing party." It has ruled the province for 80 of the years since Confederation, including an uninterrupted run from 1943 to 1985...

, and lost to Liberal

Ontario Liberal Party

The Ontario Liberal Party is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. It has formed the Government of Ontario since the provincial election of 2003. The party is ideologically aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada but the two parties are organizationally independent and...

 candidate Edmund A. MacGillivray by 1,613 votes in Glengarry

Glengarry (electoral district)

Glengarry was a federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1917, and from 1925 to 1953. It was located in the province of Ontario...

. He ran again in the 1948 election

Ontario general election, 1948

The Ontario general election of 1948 was held on June 7, 1948, to elect the 90 members of the 23rd Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the Province of Ontario, Canada....

, and defeated MacGillivray by 1,788 votes. Villeneuve served as a government backbencher until Thomas Laird Kennedy

Thomas Laird Kennedy

Thomas Laird Kennedy was a politician in Ontario, Canada and served briefly as the 15th Premier of Ontario. He was first elected as the Conservative member for Peel in the 1919 provincial election...

 and Leslie Frost

Leslie Frost

Leslie Miscampbell Frost, was a politician in Ontario, Canada, who served as the 16th Premier from May 4, 1949 to November 8, 1961. Due to his lengthy tenure, he gained the nickname "Old Man Ontario".-Early years:...

, and won re-election in the Progressive Conservative landslides of 1951

Ontario general election, 1951

The Ontario general election of 1951 was held on November 22, 1951, to elect the 90 members of the 24th Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the Province of Ontario, Canada....

 and 1955

Ontario general election, 1955

The Ontario general election of 1955 was held on June 9, 1955, to elect the 98 members of the 25th Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the Province of Ontario, Canada....

.

Villeneuve resigned from the provincial legislature in May 1957 to run federally, as a candidate of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....

. He was successful, defeating Liberal

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 incumbent Raymond Bruneau

Raymond Bruneau

Raymond Bruneau was an Ontario translator and political figure. He was a member of the Canadian House of Commons representing Prescott and defeating the 24-year incumbent Liberal MP, Élie-Oscar Bertrand, to sit as an Independent Liberal from 1949 to 1953...

 by 1,580 votes in Glengarry—Prescott in the 1957 election

Canadian federal election, 1957

The Canadian federal election of 1957 was held June 10, 1957, to select the 265 members of the House of Commons of Canada. In one of the great upsets in Canadian political history, the Progressive Conservative Party , led by John Diefenbaker, brought an end to 22 years of Liberal rule, as the...

. He served as a backbench supporter of John Diefenbaker

John Diefenbaker

John George Diefenbaker, PC, CH, QC was the 13th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 21, 1957, to April 22, 1963...

's minority government for a year, and defeated Bruneau a second time in the Progressive Conservative landslide of 1958

Canadian federal election, 1958

The Canadian federal election of 1958 was the 24th general election in Canada's history. It was held to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 24th Parliament of Canada on March 31, 1958, just nine months after the 23rd election...

.

He was defeated in the 1962 election

Canadian federal election, 1962

The Canadian federal election of 1962 was held on June 18, 1962 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 25th Parliament of Canada...

, losing to Liberal Viateur Ethier

Viateur Éthier

Viateur Éthier was an Ontario businessman and political figure. He represented Glengarry—Prescott in the Canadian House of Commons as a Liberal member from 1962 to 1972....

 by 2,857 votes. Villeneuve then returned to the Ontario legislature in the 1963 election

Ontario general election, 1963

The Ontario general election of 1963 was held on September 25, 1963, to elect the 108 members of the 27th Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the Province of Ontario, Canada....

, winning his old seat of Glengarry by 1,363 votes over a Liberal challenger. He was re-elected in 1967

Ontario general election, 1967

The Ontario general election of 1967 was held on October 17, 1967, to elect the 117 members of the 28th Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the Province of Ontario, Canada....

, 1971

Ontario general election, 1971

The Ontario general election of 1971 was held on October 21, 1971, to elect the 117 members of the 29th Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the Province of Ontario, Canada....

, 1975

Ontario general election, 1975

The Ontario general election of 1975 was held on September 18, 1975, to elect the 125 members of the 30th Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the Province of Ontario, Canada....

, 1977

Ontario general election, 1977

The Ontario general election of 1977 was held on June 9, 1977, to elect the 125 members of the 31st Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the Province of Ontario, Canada....

 and 1981

Ontario general election, 1981

The Ontario general election of 1981 was held on March 19, 1981, to elect members of the 32nd Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada....

, and served as a backbencher in the John Robarts

John Robarts

John Parmenter Robarts, PC, CC, QC was a Canadian lawyer and statesman, and the 17th Premier of Ontario.-Early life:...

 and William Davis

Bill Davis

William Grenville "Bill" Davis, was the 18th Premier of Ontario, Canada, from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the MPP for Peel in the 1959 provincial election where he was a backbencher in Leslie Frost's government. Under John Robarts, he was a cabinet minister overseeing the education...

 governments. He was never appointed to cabinet at either the federal or provincial levels.

Villeneuve suffered a heart attack in September 1983 while attending a reunion of former Progressive Conservative MPPs, and died in hospital a few hours later. His seat in the Ontario legislature was subsequently won by Noble Villeneuve

Noble Villeneuve

Noble Villeneuve is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1983 to 1999, and served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Frank Miller and Mike Harris.Villeneuve did not attend university, and worked as a...

, a distant relative.