 He founded Snyder Construction in 1982, and was still its owner and operator at the time of the 1997 election.He was defeated for the federal Progressive Conservative nomination in Oshawa for the 1984 election, and for the provincial Progressive Conservative nomination for Durham Centre ("Toronto Star", 23 December 1986) in the 1987 election.He won the Ontario PC nomination for Oshawa in the 1987 campaign, and finished third against New Democratic Party incumbent Mike Breaugh.