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Jae Nicholls

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Jae Nicholls
Mayor of Hudson, Quebec
In office
November, 2017 – November, 2021
Preceded byEd Prévost
Succeeded byChloe Hutchison
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Vaudreuil-Soulanges
In office
May 2, 2011 – October 19, 2015
Preceded byMeili Faille
Succeeded byPeter Schiefke
Personal details
Born (1971-10-15) October 15, 1971 (age 54)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
PartyNew Democratic Party
ProfessionLandscape architect

Jae Nicholls (formerly Jamie Nicholls; born October 15, 1971) is a Canadian social democrat and politician. She was a New Democratic Party Member of Parliament from 2011 to 2015 and was later the mayor of Hudson, Quebec.

Born in Montreal and raised in Hudson, Nicholls attended both St-Thomas elementary and Hudson High School. She became a New Democrat while enrolled at Malaspina College (now Vancouver Island University) in Nanaimo, BC at the age of 18. She graduated from the University of Victoria with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts in 1995. During that period, she was an outspoken social and environmental activist in Victoria, BC.

Upon graduating, Nicholls lived and taught in South Korea and Turkey. She was a lecturer in Visual Communication Design in the Faculty of Communications at Istanbul's Bahcesehir University until 2003. She returned to Canada to pursue a graduate degree in landscape architecture from the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of British Columbia. Graduating in 2007, she returned to Quebec to work as a landscape architect.

Nicholls is a former Member of Parliament in Canada's 41st parliament. She was elected to represent Vaudreuil-Soulanges in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2011 election.[1][2] On June 20, 2011 Jack Layton appointed her to serve as the Vice-Chair for standing committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities for the official opposition.[3] In 2015, she was appointed Vice-Chair for the standing committee on Official Languages.[3] She was defeated in the 2015 Red Tide election by Liberal Peter Schiefke.[4]

In November 2017, Nicholls was elected mayor of Hudson, Quebec.[5] She lost in the 2021 municipal election.

She lives in Hudson with her wife Amanda MacDonald and their five children. Nicholls is trangender and transitioned after leaving politics.[6]

Life and career

[edit]

After studying and working in Vancouver, South Korea, and Turkey, she returned to Quebec permanently in 2007. Before her 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 her seat in the House of Commons, Nicholls defeated incumbent Bloc Québécois MP Meili Faille. She and Faille were friends in high school.[7]

Working as a landscape architect while she 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.

Following her defeat in the 2015 election, Nicholls ran for mayor of Hudson in Quebec's 2017 municipal elections,[8] and won the election.[9]

Electoral history

[edit]
2017 Quebec municipal elections: Hudson
Mayoral candidate Vote %
Jae Nicholls1,78873.64
William Nash50720.88
Joseph H. Eletr1335.48
Total2428100.00
Source: Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (Quebec)[10]
2015 Canadian federal election: Vaudreuil—Soulanges
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
LiberalPeter Schiefke30,55046.62+34.23–
New DemocraticJae Nicholls14,62722.31-21.19–
Bloc QuébécoisVincent François9,85815.04-8.62–
ConservativeMarc Boudreau9,04813.81-3.8–
GreenJennifer Kaszel1,4452.21-0.63–
Total valid votes/Expense limit 65,528100.0   $231,083.77
Total rejected ballots 714––
Turnout 66,242––
Eligible voters 89,766
Source: Elections Canada[11][12]
2011 Canadian federal election: Vaudreuil—Soulanges
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
New DemocraticJamie Nicholls[a]30,17743.61+33.98
Bloc QuébécoisMeili Faille17,78125.69-15.65
ConservativeMarc Boudreau11,36016.41-7.28
LiberalLyne Pelchat8,02311.59-9.74
GreenJean-Yves Massenet1,8642.69-1.32
Total valid votes/expense limit 69,205100.00
Total rejected ballots 7631.09
Turnout 69,96867.23
  1. ↑ Nicholls is now known as Jae due to gender transition.

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ Election 2011: Vaudreuil-Soulanges. The Globe and Mail, May 2, 2011
  2. ↑ Jae Nicholls – Parliament of Canada biography
  3. 1 2 "Jamie Nicholls - Roles - House of Commons of Canada". www.ourcommons.ca. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  4. ↑ "Red tide crushes incumbent NDP in Vaudreuil-Soulanges". Montreal Gazette. 21 October 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  5. ↑ "Nicholls returns to politics amid hope, optimism in Hudson". Montreal Gazette. 7 November 2017. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  6. ↑ Nicholls, Jae (22 April 2025). "How I Vote". Substack. Archived from the original on 7 July 2026. Retrieved 7 July 2026. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 12 July 2026 suggested (help)
  7. ↑ Bloc Quebecois' Faille loses to a friend in Vaudreuil-Soulanges. The Gazette, 2011-05-02.
  8. ↑ "Hudson election: Jamie Nicholls for mayor". Montreal Gazette, October 4, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Montreal election results: Three-way races in Hudson, St-Lazare". Montreal Gazette, November 5, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Élections municipales 2017 - Résultats des élections pour les postes de maire et de conseiller, Candidatures et résultats pour Hudson". Ministère des Affaires municipales et de l'Habitation. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  11. ↑ Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Vaudreuil—Soulanges, 30 September 2015
  12. ↑ Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived 2015-08-15 at the Wayback Machine
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