Outgoing Portland Hotel Society executive director Mark Townsend explains the controversial expenses revealed in a recent audit.

The B.C. government has released details of a damning audit that shows the Portland Hotel Society (PHS) spent thousands of dollars on lavish hotels, limousine rides, expensive dinners and a trip to a Disney resort. With mention of InSite, which PHS co-operates with VCH.

Rick Cluff talks to Dr. Patricia Daly, chief medical health officer of VCH, about “taking over the helm” of the Portland Hotel Society.

A non-profit that serves people in the Downtown Eastside spent tens of thousands of dollars on travel around the world, restaurant meals, limousines, spa treatments and more, according to provincial reviews. With a comment from Dr. Patricia Daly, vice-president of VCH.

“The four executives and the entire PHS board were removed over a financial scandal that has motored along for weeks, initially fuelled by vague accusations of improper spending, rumours and innuendo.”

Embattled NDP MLA Jenny Kwan said she will repay $34,922 for trips charged to a Vancouver charity, and will take an unpaid leave of absence from her job.

MLA Jenny Kwan says she’ll repay $34,922 for trips charged to the Portland Hotel Society.

Jenny Kwan says she has reimbursed $35,000 to a non-profit group after government audits revealed her family’s trips to Disneyland and Europe were paid for by taxpayers.

NDP MLA Jenny Kwan says she is repaying more than $34,000 in expenses for trips she and her family took to Bristol, Vienna and Disneyland that were paid for by the Portland Hotel Society.

“I’m hoping that whoever takes over for Townsend—and for other cronies who believe in their own sense of righteous importance and entitlement—will look again at these programs with clearer eyes and sharper minds.”