The fascinating, scandalous, and true story of Viola MacMillan and the Windfall mining scandal
Viola MacMillan had it all: success, money, and respect. Influence, even. But in 1964, after three decades in the mining industry, one of the most fascinating women in Canadian business history was the central character in one of the country's most famous stock scandals.
MacMillan, who started out as a prospector in the '30s, had developed lucrative mines and put together big deals. But she still wanted "a major discovery." Early in July 1964, shares in Windfall Oil and Mines, a company she and her husband controlled, traded for around 56 cents. Then one day, the stock took off. In the absence of any information from the company about what it had found near Timmins on its claims, rumors and greed pushed the share price to a high of $5.70. MacMillan stayed quiet. Finally, after three weeks, Windfall admitted it had nothing.
So many small investors lost money when the stock crashed that the Ontario government appointed a royal commission to examine what had happened, which led to changes at the Ontario Securities Commission and the Toronto Stock Exchange. Although MacMillan spent a few weeks in prison, she later received a pardon and the Order of Canada. The fascinating, scandalous, and true story of the woman who became a Canadian mining industry leader and the central figure of the "core hoax" - the Windfall mining scandal that sent her to prison and led to fundamental regulatory changes in the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Tim Falconer's last two books - Bad Singer: The Surprising Science of Tone Deafness and How We Hear Music and Klondikers: Dawson City's Stanley Cup Challenge and How a Nation Fell in Love with Hockey - made the Globe and Mail's top 100. He lives in Toronto, ON.
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• LITTLE WRITTEN ON THE TOPIC: You'll learn all about the true story of the woman who became a Canadian mining industry leader and the central figure of the "core hoax" - a mining scandal that sent her to prison and led to regulatory changes on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
• DECORATED AUTHOR: Tim Falconer was a 2017 finalist for the Lane Anderson Award, and his most recent two books were named to the Globe 100.
• FOR READERS OF: Perfect for readers of historical books such as Charlotte Gray's Murdered Midas or Stephen R. Brown's The Company.
