Several measures to help consumers

In the context of the 2010-2011 budget presentation, the federal government announced several measures to regulate the commercial practices of financial institutions:
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Ice storm 1998 - Class action for additional living expenses
Did your home become uninhabitable during the ice storm crisis of 1998? Did your home insurance policy include coverage for additional living expenses? Is your insurer one of the 19 companies involved  ?
Help us to help you !
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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).