Mary Lynn Winkler

A Costly Stand Mary Lynn Winkler

Billed as a memoir of business intrigue and courtroom drama, this book recounts how a whistleblower's family copes with the highs and lows of being morally courageous, taking a stand, and staying true to one's values and principles all the while hanging onto their faith for perseverance. Written by Mary Lynn McCauley Winkler, she describes how her husband Paul Winkler, a former executive with Hollinger, was essentially fired for refusing to participate in what he deemed as underhanded and likely illegal business plans by the company's top executives, David Radler and Conrad Black. At the time, Hollinger was the third largest newspaper chain in the world and Canada's largest media company. Winkler's attempts to alert Canadian media and securities regulators about what had been learned at his wrongful dismissal trial were ignored. Eventually American authorities brought charges against Radler and Black and Paul's story emerged. The Winklers, including four children, were living in Kelowna, British Columbia in that province's beautiful Okanagan Valley. Paul was general manager of six community papers and publisher of Kelowna's three-time weekly The Capital News and Mary Lynn was a regular freelancer for that paper. The story is complicated but the author's style makes the tale understandable and, at times, humorous. The book is 145 pages.