Mr. Speaker, there is no comparing the gun registry experience with what I expect to be the case with the do not call registry. We are talking about a system where a consumer on behalf of a household simply registers the phone number online with no personal data required. Only a minimum of information would have to be provided to verify that indeed it was that household. My understanding is that anything beyond the phone number will thereafter be erased. It is very simple to register online or to call a 1-800 or toll-free line.
Right now, the telemarketing community, as a group, as an association or as individual members, maintains lists. I do not recall that any of them indicated that their costs now were exorbitant. If we make a reasonable assumption based on the experience of the telemarketers who maintain individual lists and imagine what the situation might be for national lists, if reasonable measures are made and good sense prevails, which I believe it will, we should not see an explosion of costs.
I respect the member for representing his community and Proximedia but I would ask him to reassure the telemarketing company that there should not be any surprises, that it will find its business that much more efficient because this will have eliminated people who do not want to receive calls or people who most likely would not wish to buy the products that are being offered.
It is a good question, but I would ask the member to reassure his constituents that there should be no problem.