[4] Hurst increased his public profile in early 1991, when he emerged as a prominent opponent of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's decision to shut down its Windsor-area news department.
[8] Hurst renewed his opposition to Sunday shopping legislation after the election, and indicated that he might attempt to circumvent the law through legal means.
[9] He welcomed a 1992 ruling by the Ontario Municipal Board which allowed Sunday shopping in much of Windsor to promote tourism.
[10] Hurst announced in 1992 that he would support the construction of a casino for Windsor, to be built by private enterprise and leased to the province.
[16] In the late 1990s, he championed a successful plan to construct an office tower complex for Chrysler Canada Ltd.[17] Hurst was instrumental in the removal of the Holiday Inn ( Plywood Palace ) on the Northside of Riverside Drive in April 1999 two weeks before demolition the structure burnt.
[18] In 1997, Hurst criticized the provincial government of Mike Harris (who succeeded Rae as premier in 1995) for introducing a bill to give the province extensive powers over public sector unions.
[21] In 1999, Hurst accused provincial cabinet minister Steve Gilchrist of putting himself in a conflict-of-interest situation by suggesting his personal lawyer as a government contact.
[25] The Windsor City Council voted to license escort services in 1996, as a means of providing legal protection for vulnerable sex-trade workers.
[27] Later in the same year, Hurst threatened to call a state of emergency if the provincial and federal governments did not look into the issue of American-board trucks causing gridlock in the city.