[1] His formative years,[2] spanning the Great Depression, were divided between his family farm and Moose Jaw where his father worked as a railroad engineer and a respected union leader.
Snyder considered capitalism to be an unjust economic system and thought that, when left to its own devices, it threw so many into despair and poverty, then quickly flourished when socially unproductive items like tanks, guns and bombs were built.
This view that society should serve all its citizens, not just the wealthy and powerful, led Snyder and his parents to become some of the earliest members of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, which later became the NDP.
In 1942, Snyder joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, serving Canada until his discharge at the end of World War II in 1945.
Snyder also undertook a comprehensive reform of workers' compensation in Saskatchewan, changing it from a system that saw the government pay out lump sums for permanent injuries to one that was based on income replacement with the focus on rehabilitation.