CRTC To Add More Exemptions to National Do Not Call List

Canada’s National Do Not Call List was considered by many to be a complete waste of time when it launched last month because there were too many exemptions for the list. For example, newspapers, pollsters and political parties can continue to conduct telemarketing. Add to this the companies that you do business with (and their affiliates) and we’ve got about 80% of the existing telemarketers covered.

Yesterday, the CRTC announced in a news release that they are considering adding another exemption to the list, electoral candidates that are not yet affiliated with a political party. I’m not sure why there are so many exceptions to a National “DO NOT CALL” List, but if I were to hazard a guess it would be the fact that during the last Federal Election we had the lowest voter turn out in recent history.

If thats the case, we may as well add a few more exceptions to the list. Lets add financial institutions on to the list! With the financial crisis and slowing economy, we may need to give banks the ability to cold call people and convince them to open up some new savings accounts so they can raise more money to lend out. In fact, lets allow all retailers to use telemarketing because if consumers spend more money that will help the economy too!

The only good news is that the CRTC is thinking of scrapping the three year limit for phone numbers on the list. Currently after three years you’ll have to re-register your phone number onto the list but a proposal is out there that will make registrations permanent. To make this possible, phone numbers that are disconnected or reassigned will automatically be removed from the list.