Bill C-37 — A National Do-not-call Registry In Canada?

This article was originally published in Blakes Bulletin on Communications Law, December 2005

Article by Sunny Handa & Maria Amore, ©2005 Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

Many businesses today rely on telemarketing as an important component of their marketing strategy. Today’s telemarketers include some of Canada’s biggest and most prestigious companies, ranging from telephone companies to newspapers. While telemarketing is growing so, too, are the requests to regulate the practice.

This article deals with the increasingly complex and difficult issue of telemarketing regulation under Canadian telecommunications law.

In a 2004 poll contained on Industry Canada’s Web site, 97% of Canadians polled said that they found unsolicited telemarketing calls to be annoying. Furthermore, according to this same survey, 79% of those polled supported the creation of a national do-not-call list, with 66% stating that they would likely add their name to such a list.