Mike Hurst

Michael D. Hurst is a prominent municipal politician in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. He served as Mayor of Windsor from 1991 to 2003, and oversaw several major changes in the city's development.

Early life and career

Hurst was born in Windsor, and holds Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees from the University of Windsor. He practiced law in private life, and unsuccessfully campaigned for the Windsor city council in 1982. ["Hurst Named CEO of Detroit River Tunnel Partnership" [press release] , "PR NewsWire", 22 January 2004, 14:30 report.]

Councillor

Hurst was elected to the Windsor City Council during a by-election in 1987, and was re-elected the 1988 municipal election. He represented the city's first ward. He was the only member of the Windsor council to vote against a financial bailout for the Windsor Symphony Orchestra in 1988, arguing that the orchestra was making itself financially unviable by spending too much money on new members. ["Windsor city council bails out symphony", "Globe and Mail", 17 February 1988, C7.]

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. ["Injunction sought", "Globe and Mail", 9 January 1991, C4.] He was quoted as saying, "We're bombarded by American culture here and the CBC was something that really helped keep us Canadian". [Stephen Ewart, "Bitter anniversary", "Kitchener-Waterloo Record", 5 December 1991, C23.]

Hurst supported a relaxation of Canada's Sunday shopping laws for communities on the American border, arguing that this step would counter the effects of cross-border shopping on the local economy. He opposed a restrictive shopping law brought forward by the province of Ontario in early 1991. [Kenneth Kidd and Donn Downey, "Sunday shopping law attacked", "Globe and Mail", 5 June 1991, A1.]

Mayor

Hurst was elected Mayor of Windsor in the 1991 municipal election, defeating local magazine publisher Jerry Woloschuk. The incumbent mayor, John Millson, did not seek re-election after receiving death threats. [David Shoalts, "McCallion an easy winner again", "Globe and Mail", 13 November 1991, A7.] Hurst renewed his opposition to Sunday shopping legislation after the election, and indicated that he might attempt to circumvent the law through legal means. [Paul Waldie and Drew Hasselback, "Shoppers give warm greeting to return of Sunday spending", "Globe and Mail", 2 December 1991, A8.] He welcomed a 1992 ruling by the Ontario Municipal Board which allowed Sunday shopping in much of Windsor to promote tourism. [Chris Vander Doelen, "Windsor stores win fight to open Sunday", "Kitchener-Waterloo Record", 2 May 1992, A5.]

Major projects

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. He argued that fifty million Americans lived within driving distance of the city, and that a casino would greatly improve the city's threatened economy. ["Windsor casino plan may beat Detroit to punch", "Grand Rapids Press", 16 March 1992, B3.] The plan was accepted by the provincial government of Bob Rae, and casino operations were opened to the public in 1994. [Jeffrey Ulrich, "Canadian province turns to casino gambling to pay bills", "Las Vegas Review-Journal", 1 May 1992, 12E.] Despite concerns about the long-term viability of a casino-centred economy, the project encountered relatively little organized opposition from the local community.

On opening night in 1994, Hurst proclaimed, "These are momentous days for Windsor. Windsor is a city of hope." ["Casino opens in style: Windsor celebrates newest 'tourist facility'", "Kitchener-Waterloo Record", 16 May 1994, A3.] One year later, with the casino generating strong revenues, he said, "It's changed the city forever." ["Windsor casino is on a roll . . . on its first anniversary", "Hamilton Spectator", 18 May 1995, A11.] The permanent Casino Windsor building was opened in 1998. [Heather Greenwood, "Glitzy casino opens its doors", "Toronto Star", 28 July 1998, A6.]

Hurst also made several efforts to build a new arena in downtown Windsor, although these plans were beset with various delays. [Rob MacKenzie, "Infrastructure in Canada finds itself in a hole", "Financial Post", 5 October 1992, p. 8.] In the late 1990s, he championed a successful plan to construct an office tower complex for Chrysler Canada Ltd. ["Windsor set to OK Chrysler tower", "Associated Press Newswires", 2 October 1998, 16:40.]

Relations with the provincial government

Hurst criticized the provincial government in April 1993 for cancelling a plan to relocate government jobs from Toronto to other communities. The Rae government had planned to decentralize the public sector after coming to office, but was forced to change its plans in the face of a serious recession. [Darcy Henton, "'People devastated' as job relocation plan is shelved", "Toronto Star", 24 April 1993, A1.]

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. He argued that it was unhelpful and unnecessarily confrontational. [David Lewis Stein, "Mayors psyched to take Tories to task", "Toronto Star", 24 August 1997, F4.] He also criticized the government's downloading of provincial services to the municipalities, arguing that the municipalities lost money from the arrangement. [Richard Brennan, "Skarica, Carr defy premier", "Hamilton Spectator", 3 December 1997, B4; Paul Moloney, "Other cities in Toronto's corner", "Toronto Star", 31 January 2001, p. 1.] Hurst was himself asked to run for Harris's Progressive Conservative Party in a 1997 by-election, but declined. [Ian Urquhart, "Windsor by-election could be a real scrap", "Toronto Star", 28 August 1997, A31.]

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. Hurst says that he rejected the offer outright; Gilchrist denied having seriously made the offer. [Richard Brennan, "Gilchrist questioned over new allegations", "Toronto Star", 17 November 1999, p. 1.] Hurst later indicated that he would not enforce the Harris government's laws against panhandling. [Richard Brennan, "Squeegee law faces challenge", "Toronto Star", 1 February 2000, p. 1.] In 2003, he commended Harris's successor Ernie Eves for promising to invest $625 over five years in the auto sector. [Terry Weber, "Ontario to invest $625-million in auto sector", "Globe and Mail", 26 February 2003 (Breaking News).]

Other

Hurst also welcomed the return of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation operations to Windsor in 1993. ["Windsor newscast marks new CBC policy", "Globe and Mail", 19 August 1993, E1.]

The Windsor City Council voted to licence escort services in 1996, as a means of providing legal protection for vulnerable sex-trade workers. Hurst opposed the licencing law, although he later acknowledged that it did not generate any complaints. [Jacqueline Smrke, "Licensed to sell sex", "Hamilton Spectator", 23 July 1997, B8.]

In 2002, two city employees were fired over allegations of misleading council over lease agreements with MFP Financial Services. One of the employees was also accused of accepting "personal benefits" from MFP. Hurst was strongly critical of the company's role in the matter. ["Two Windsor, Ont., officials fired over dealings with MFP Financial Services", "Canadian Press", 8 February 2002, 19:39 report.]

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. There were reports that urban gridlock was promoting an economic downturn for the community. ["Mayor may declare state of emergency", "National Post", 4 July 2002, A8; Lisa Priest, "Endless queues of 18-wheelers test city's patience to the limit", "Globe and Mail", 29 August 2002, A11.]

Hurst was re-elected in 1994, 1997 and 2000, each time by a significant margin.

Current activities

Hurst supported a controversial Detroit River Tunnel Partnership plan near the end of his final term, [Kevin McGran, "'Everybody's worried about it...The auto sector is desperate'", "Toronto Star", 13 January 2004, A04.] and he was hired as chief executive officer of the partnership's Jobs Tunnel project in January 2004. He was fifty-three years old at the time. ["Hurst Named CEO of Detroit River Tunnel Partnership" [press release] , "PR NewsWire", 22 January 2004, 14:30 report.]

Footnotes