Kevin Laliberte
Editor, Smoky River Express

Canadians sick and tired of being interrupted by annoying telemarketers can now register their home and cellphone numbers under a national ‘Do Not Call List.’ Those who want to register a phone number can go to www.LNNTE-DNCL.gc.ca or call 1-866-580-3625. Telemarketing companies also have to register and purchase a subscription to access phone numbers they are required to block from their calling lists. Ah, but there are loopholes! Many companies are exempt from the new regulations, including registered charities, newspapers, political parties and polling and market research firms. Also exempt is any company a caller has had business with in the past 18 months. To solve that problem, Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, has created a third-party Do Not Call List to pick up the slack. Canadians can also visit the Canadian Marketing Association’s Do Not Contact service. There is also a movement dedicated to reducing paper-based advertising, called the Red Dot Campaign. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) says because it has the power to enforce the new policies, Canadians will receive fewer telemarketing calls after they register. Meanwhile, a new poll suggests Canadians have high hopes that the DNCL will be a successful venture. A VoxPop survey has found that 61 per cent of Canadians are sure that despite exemptions to the list, they will still get fewer telemarketing calls. Canadians can also ask to be added to the internal Do Not Call lists of exempted companies, which the CRTC also has the power to enforce. The CRTC can levy fines of up to $1,500 to individuals who violate the new rules and up to $15,000 to corporations. The exemptions are similar to those associated with a similar U.S. registry, which has been very successful at reducing the number of telemarketing calls that Americans receive, according to VoxPop. A Harris Poll conducted in the U.S. last October found that 91 per cent of respondents received fewer telemarketing calls since registering with the list. Fifty-nine per cent of respondents said they received far fewer calls, while 18 per cent reported that they did not receive any telemarketing calls after joining the do not call list. To date, more than 145 million people have registered for that list. VoxPop is a campaign by the MRIA designed to advance free speech through public opinion surveys. Research suggests the list will be quite popular with Canadians. A Harris/Decima survey found that 72 per cent of Canadians will add their numbers to the DNCL. However, the survey, conducted on behalf of Pitney Bowes Canada, showed some businesses may be unaware of the new guidelines for telemarketing. While 73 per cent of business owners know of the list, about 61 per cent of small business owners said they were unaware they could be fined for violating the new policy. Companies will first get a warning letter in case they were unaware of the new regulations, Carmel said. If a company continues to violate the rules, it will get a “notice of violation,” which they can contest. The CRTC would then rule if the company broke the rules and issue a fine. Companies forced to scale back their telemarketing operations do have options. The Harris/Decima survey found that 52 per cent of respondents would prefer that companies solicit first-time business from them via the mail. Forty-nine per cent said they also prefer hearing from companies they already do business with through the mail. Direct mail marketing is a cost-effective way for companies to reach consumers, experts say. According to the Direct Marketing Association, each $1 spent on direct mail marketing leads to $11 in sales, which is twice the return of any other advertising medium. The companies have 31 days to add new numbers to their do not call lists.

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