Steel was born in 1890 in Castleton, Ontario and graduated from electrical engineering from the University of Toronto in 1915[1] After graduation he joined the Canadian Army (Permanent Active Militia) in World War I in France as a wireless officer.
[2] Post war he became Chief Wireless Officer with the Canadian Army Signals Corps[3] and was in charge of the National Research Council's radio laboratory in the early 1930s.
He was involved with William Duncan Herridge in the New Democracy, a party that advocated social credit in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
[1] Steel later worked as a consultant and involved in the DEW Line until his death.
He died in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1968[3] and was buried at Beechwood Cemetery.