He became a New Democrat while enrolled at Malaspina College (now Vancouver Island University) in Nanaimo, BC at the age of 18.
[1][2] On June 20, 2011 Jack Layton appointed him to serve as the Vice-Chair for standing committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities for the official opposition.
Before his election to Parliament, Nicholls worked in a variety of fields: arts and design teacher, environmental researcher, ecological intervention adviser, registered landscape architect (AAPQ) and was a board member of COBAVER (Conseil des bassins versants Vaudreuil-Soulanges).
To win his seat in the House of Commons, Nicholls defeated incumbent Bloc Québécois MP Meili Faille.
[6] Working as a landscape architect while he was enrolled at McGill University's School of Urban Planning, Nicholls was one of five current McGill students, alongside undergraduates Mylène Freeman, Matthew Dubé, Charmaine Borg and Laurin Liu, elected to Parliament in the 2011 election following the NDP's unexpected mid-campaign surge in Quebec.