[1] 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 was a beef and cash crop farmer on Dyer Road in Maxville, Ontario, as well as a farm real estate appraiser.
The Progressive Conservative government of Frank Miller was re-elected in the 1985 election, but was reduced to minority status.
Villeneuve was not regarded as one of the more right-wing figures in the Harris cabinet, though his government presided over considerable funding cutbacks in the agriculture department and the elimination of local representatives.
Villeneuve faced incumbent Liberal John Cleary in the new riding of Stormont—Dundas—Charlottenburgh, and lost by only 562 votes in a closely watched contest.