Gov’t had no concerns with Portland Hotel Society for years
Posted March 24, 2014 6:46 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VICTORIA (NEWS1130) – BC’s housing minister says a Downtown Eastside non-profit operated for a number of years without anything unusual, before controversy erupted over its spending habits.
Speaking during Question Period in the legislature, Rich Coleman says the province worked with the Portland Hotel Society more than a decade ago to improve how it kept its books, and things were fine for many years after that.
“We went in, we put in an organization there to help the society improve their management techniques. And for the next eight or nine years, there were no anomalies on an annual basis.”
But he says a deficit at the Portland Hotel Society about three years ago triggered some financial reviews that raised concerns.
“As we got more details about the troubling nature of spending, regarding trips and some other things, the decision was made that the society would have to change its management and change its board
The province has replaced the society’s board and management will leave by the end of the month.
