As I walked by, the big yellow excavator took a bite from the side of the gaping hole it perched above. Moments later it disgorged yards of dirt and debris onto the ground.

And there they were.

Bricks. The square, clay-red, solid, handmade kind used centuries ago in NOTL. To build fine houses. And secret tunnels.

Regular addicts may recall a column published here months ago (“The boy, the hole and the life below,” Sept. 15, 2025) reporting subterranean structures beneath the former Parliament Oak school.

Tom McMillan recalled a three-foot hole opening in the schoolyard 60 years ago. Below was a 10-by-12 brick room in four feet of water with two heavy arched wooden doors leading off toward King Street.

Before it was a school, it was a mansion. A magnificent one, built in 1847 by a prominent guy: Senator Josiah Plumb, apparently responsible for a tunnel network below.

Well, the new hotel operator had an archeological study done of the site. It cleared the development. Town staff rubber-stamped it. The excavator moved in. Whatever was down there has since disappeared into a dump truck trundling up Mary Street to the pit.

And this brings us to Gary Burroughs.

“The Parliament Oak development has destroyed that neighborhood,” he says. “All the houses around it are for sale now and none of them are selling. It should never have happened.”

But it did. The current council Burroughs sits on is one of the most pro-development, pro-tourism councils anyone can recall. That includes Burroughs, with years on council, years as the regional chair, a decade as lord mayor and three decades as the former owner of the boutique Oban Inn.

He is running again at age 80. He has institutional memory in a digital age and a quaint notion that politicians should, you know, do what the people want. Instead of what town staff dictate.

His colleagues at town hall, says Burroughs, are too easily manipulated into big decisions. Like approving a massive hotel in the middle of a residential ‘hood. Or (soon, he reckons) greenlighting a Ritz-Carlton hotel, spa and residences on the former Rand Estate.

Together with the Terminal 4 Clayfield edifice in Garrison Village, these developments put NOTL into tourism overdrive.

With an election looming, Burroughs craves more citizen engagement. Less bureaucracy.

“When it comes to our planning staff, they process everything as if it’s a good thing. If the application is complete, they say OK, let’s move on it. That also happened with the Royal George, which everyone knows is too big.”

Burroughs points to a growing disconnect between voters and those they vote for. Councillors have come to see the new NOTL Residents Association, “as the enemy, the absolute enemy,” he says.

“When they come to present to us on council, everyone just looks away. Nobody listens. They think they don’t need input. But after this election, hopefully, things will be better.”

Meanwhile the rebel residents are giving no ground.

“If presenting factual information, advocating for greater transparency or encouraging accountability makes some elected officials uncomfortable, that is unfortunate,” says Ron Simkus, speaking for NOTLRA. “I would hope that open discussion, informed debate and public participation would be seen as strengths of a healthy democratic community rather than as threats.”

Council members, accused of listening to town staff more than citizens, are probably using the group as a scapegoat, says Simkus.

“We all must adopt a philosophy that nobody in our town is stupid, evil or malicious and that nobody would deliberately intend to hurt our community,” he adds. “The fact is, that as human beings, we are all motivated by different components of our lives and it requires comprehension and empathy rather than unwarranted hostility to preclude wasted energy in conflict.”

But conflict we have. With more to come, as Burroughs says the lord mayor will use his “strong mayor” powers to welcome yet another major hotel — “The dirt is going to start flying.”

“This is not the way it should be. We can be more positive. And it starts with listening to the residents.”

Garth Turner is a NOTL resident, journalist, author, wealth manager and former federal MP and minister. garth@garth.ca