 He worked in the financial sector in Europe and the United States for over two decades, and was the chief accountant and corporate secretary of a major bank in Toronto at the time of the 1997 election.He campaigned in the 1993 election in Hamilton East against prominent Liberal incumbent Sheila Copps, and finished a distant second.Stewart ran on a platform of "lower taxes, a balanced budget, increased health spending and decentralized federal powers" in the 1997, and also called for changes to the Young Offenders Act ("Toronto Star", 30 May 1997).