B.C. health authority CEO abruptly departs amid financial concerns, service pressures

B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne won’t say why the president and chief executive of British Columbia’s largest health authority has abruptly left the job after more than six years at the helm.Dr. Victoria Lee, who earned more than $450,000 last year, walked away from the troubled organization this week as the provincial government bears down on overspending and administrative costs in health care.The Fraser Health Authority serves two million people and runs Surrey Memorial Hospital, which has one of the busiest emergency departments in the country. Rapid population growth in the region has strained services, leading to emergency-room diversions and prompting some of the authority’s 50,000 health workers to go public with concerns about staffing and patient care.