Groups Want Cabinet Minister for Consumer Protection
The Canadian Consumer Initiative (CCI) called on all federal parties to commit to establishing a Cabinet level position for protecting consumers and to increase funding for consumer organizations. Their demand is backed up by a new poll conducted by Nanos Research for CCI that reveals more than 80% of Canadians believe the appointment of a Minister for consumer protection should be a high or medium priority for the next government.
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According to a survey conducted by Nanos Research, commissioned by the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, an overwhelming majority of Canadians are opposed to the Conservative government's plans to cut key food safety programs and to expand industry self-policing.
Read more Canadian Consumer Groups React to NDP Plan to Create a Minister for Consumer Protection

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“Do not call me!”
In order to not receive telemarketing calls, you can register your residential telephone number, your cellular, your fax number and your VOIP service for free on the National Do-Not-Call Registry (DNCL). It will remain on this list for three years, and maybe re-entered when the 3 years have passed.

From now on, telemarketers will be forbidden from calling numbers on the DNCL, subject to certain exceptions. If you receive a commercial call and your phone number has been registered for more than 31 days, you can lodge a complaint with the operator of the national DNCL online at www.LNNTE-DNCL.gc.ca or by calling at 1-866 580-DNCL. The companies who do not follow the rules can receive a penalty of up to $15,000 per infraction.

The DNCL does not cover the following calls from:

• registered charities seeking donations
• political parties
• newspapers looking for subscriptions
• polling firms
• companies that have had a “commercial relationship” with a household within the previous 18 months or companies that the customer contacted for information during the last 6 months

These organizations, not subjected to the DNCL, must hold their own list of exclusion. You can ask the telemarketer to register your phone number on it. Then they will have 31 days to update their list and will have to store this information for 3 years. If you continue to receive nondesired calls, you can file a complaint with the CRTC under the law of unsolicited telecommunications (Part III: Telemarketing Rules).