This started as a joke in my weekly column for the Calgary Sun. You can read it here.

The CRTC announced that starting September 30, 2008, Canadians can register online to have their names on a telemarketer "do not call" list. Of course there are problems with it, like the fact that the people who can still call you even if you have registered on the “do-not-call” list are charities, political parties, pollsters, newspapers seeking subscriptions and companies with which customers have “existing business relationships”.

So that's pretty much everyone.

The other problem (and therefore this easy to remember website name), is that the official Government of Canada website has one of those wonderfully memorable domain names: www.LNNTE-DNCL.gc.ca. Of course it's French and English initials for "Do Not Call List", or in the language of love: "Liste nationale de numéros de télécommunication exclus (LNNTE)". Very snappy.

So I registered this domain name for $12, so you, my dear readers, can use the above link to go either to the National "do-not-call" website, or to my own collection of columns at www.lautens.com. I'll leave it to you, but I think my website is slightly funnier.

By the way, in January 2009 it was reported that a telemarketer - who of course have access to the entire list - sold the Canadian telemarketing list to - you guessed it - telemarketers outside the country. So maybe you don't want to add your name to the list after all. Nothing like having the foxes guarding the henhouse.

DISCLAIMER: This website has absolutely, positively, nothing to do with the Government of Canada. If it did, it would have photos of Prime Minister Stephen Harper awkwardly handling kittens, or apologizing for some historic wrong in order to get votes.