Ian Waddell was appointed Minister of Environment, Lands and Parks on November 1, 2000.

He served previously as Minister of Small Business, Tourism and Culture from February 1998 to November 2000.

Mr. Waddell was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1996. He represents the riding of Vancouver-Fraserview.

He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and immigrated with his family to Canada as a child. He holds a bachelor of arts in history from the University of Toronto, a teaching diploma, a bachelor of laws degree, and a master's degree in international law from the London School of Economics.

A former assistant city prosecutor for the City of Vancouver and a criminal lawyer, Mr. Waddell was most recently a practising community lawyer and chair of the Fraser Basin Management Board.

Mr. Waddell served 14 years as a B.C. Member of Parliament in Ottawa. In 1979, 1980 and 1984 he was elected as the Member of Parliament for Vancouver-Kingsway. He was elected to a fourth term in Ottawa as MP for Port Moody-Coquitlam in 1988.