He was educated at Albert College in Belleville and went on to farm in Prince Edward County.

[1] The United Farmers of Ontario won the 1919 general election with a caucus made up almost entirely of newcomers.

As a result, Parliament resigned from the Ontario Liberal Party and took the Speaker's chair as an Independent.

While it is the practice in the British House of Commons for the Speaker to resign his or her party affiliation, Nelson Parliament is the only Speaker in the history of the Ontario legislature to shed his party affiliation.

Conservative candidate Horace Stanley Colliver took just 19 more votes than Parliament to win the seat.