A new study released Monday suggests 80 per cent of Canadians are receiving fewer direct marketing phone calls now compared to last September when the federal regulator launched a national "do-not-call" list.

The poll, for the Toronto-based Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA), suggests that, despite ongoing controversy, the no-call listing is working, the association said.

"The survey shows clearly that Canada's National Do Not Call List is benefiting the great majority of registrants by stemming unwanted telemarketing calls," said Brendan Wycks, executive director of MRIA.

Harris-Decima polled 2,035 Canadian adults by phone between Jan. 29 and Feb. 15. The results are considered accurate within plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Of the respondents, more than half said they were receiving significantly fewer dinnertime calls flogging spa visits or asking for donations. One in five of those surveyed said he or she saw only a slight decrease in these communications, while 10 per cent said they have not received any marketing calls since getting on the list.

On Sept. 28, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission created a list where individuals could log their names and get themselves removed from the calling rolls of a variety of telemarketing organizations.

The 6.1 million Canadians who have registered are still subject to calls from pollsters and political organizations, among others. But, they are supposed to be free from telephone pitches from the majority of telemarketers.

January hiccup

Controversy dogged the regulator in January when it was discovered that the CRTC was selling the do-not-call list and some unscrupulous direct marketers were getting access to names.

The CRTC upped the penalties for companies misusing the list, a move that Industry Minister Tony Clement applauded.

"It is the intent of the CRTC to aggressively pursue anyone abusing the use of the Do Not Call List; I wholly support that approach," Clement said in a January press release.

The MRIA poll suggested that 13 per cent of Canadians are actually getting more telemarketing calls despite the do-not-call list.

Wycks blamed the increase on rogue companies in the United States that use automatic dialers and are not subject to Canadian rules.

"There appears to have been a significant increase in telemarketing activity using random dialing technology beginning around the time the national [do-not-call-list] was launched last fall," he said.