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Anita Vandenbeld: Phone spammer
Anita Vandenbeld, the Liberal candidate in my riding, robocalled me yesterday at dinner time. A recorded message "invited" me to join a teleconference / information "meeting" this evening; I just had to pick up the phone when they called me.
At that point, I hung up, and called her constituency office. I told the volunteer that I detested that kind of phone spamming, and that though I'd intended to vote for her, if they called me for that "meeting", I'd vote for someone else.
He asked for my phone number. I wasn't inclined to give it to him, on the principle that any kind of telephone solicitation should be opt-in, but in the interest of expediency I gave it to him. Then he asked if he could have my name, and I told him "No." and hung up.
I'm on the do-not-call registry. I know that political candidates don't have to pay attention to it, legally, but... this is a list of people who've made their preferences clear: they don't want to be called. Pretty stupid to ignore that.
At any rate, they called me again this evening. Left another automated message on my machine.
So: I was intending to vote for her, because I thought she had the best chance of defeating scummy John Baird. But I can't vote for someone who is — or who's set up a system — so stupid, so unethical, and so disregardful of my wishes. Never mind that the system should be opt-in by default; they can't even respect an explicit opt-out. And how stupid do you have to be to call someone who's told you that he plans to vote for you unless you call him?
I just called her campaign office again and told the volunteer that she'd just lost my vote, and why. Maybe it'll make a difference in future.
I'll probably be voting Green.
At that point, I hung up, and called her constituency office. I told the volunteer that I detested that kind of phone spamming, and that though I'd intended to vote for her, if they called me for that "meeting", I'd vote for someone else.
He asked for my phone number. I wasn't inclined to give it to him, on the principle that any kind of telephone solicitation should be opt-in, but in the interest of expediency I gave it to him. Then he asked if he could have my name, and I told him "No." and hung up.
I'm on the do-not-call registry. I know that political candidates don't have to pay attention to it, legally, but... this is a list of people who've made their preferences clear: they don't want to be called. Pretty stupid to ignore that.
At any rate, they called me again this evening. Left another automated message on my machine.
So: I was intending to vote for her, because I thought she had the best chance of defeating scummy John Baird. But I can't vote for someone who is — or who's set up a system — so stupid, so unethical, and so disregardful of my wishes. Never mind that the system should be opt-in by default; they can't even respect an explicit opt-out. And how stupid do you have to be to call someone who's told you that he plans to vote for you unless you call him?
I just called her campaign office again and told the volunteer that she'd just lost my vote, and why. Maybe it'll make a difference in future.
I'll probably be voting Green.
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(Also, having checked the Wikipedia file on your riding - I trust you'll correct me if I'm trusting the wrong source here? - I'm surprised that none of the parties other than the federal "big four" have been able to field candidates there. Same goes for my riding, which still surprises and saddens me more than a bit.)
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