OTTAWA - The premier of Ontario is warning the federal government not to take a short-sighted approach to immigration.

After having the federal Tories repeatedly trample on his economic policy, Premier Dalton McGuinty weighed in on their policy turf on Wednesday.

He says he is concerned about landmark changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act that have been placed in the federal budget bill.

Those changes will be up for a confidence vote this spring and would trigger a federal election if the Liberals join other opposition parties in overturning the budget.

The measures are aimed at getting skilled workers into the country faster.

But they would also allow the immigration minister to reject entire groups of less-coveted immigrants by setting a cap on how many applications Ottawa would even look at in various categories.

McGuinty says his own Irish ancestors were among those less-skilled workers, as are the parents of some first-generation Canadians who have become Rhodes scholars.

"I wouldn't want to shut out folks who don't have a skill. I wouldn't be here,'' McGuinty told a news conference.

"We were part of the exodus from Ireland at the time of famine. We had no skills, we couldn't speak English, and we were dirt-poor.

"But we were looking for opportunity and we brought with us a solid work ethic.''

Immigration Minister Diane Finley has not explained how she would use her new powers.

She has suggested that skilled workers and families will get in faster, but has not explained which immigration classes would be subject to application caps.

When asked which categories could be limited, Finley said her first priority is getting the legislation passed. As for future policy changes, she noted that the legislation requires them to be announced in Parliament and promises that any such changes will be done openly.

The Liberals have denounced the legislation as a throwback to a failed Diefenbaker-era attempt to limit applications from unskilled workers so that more coveted immigrants could get in faster.

One of those critics is the premier's brother -- Liberal MP David McGuinty.

The premier says it would be a huge mistake to write off ambitious and hardworking people just because they don't happen to fall into a desired category.

He said said he'd heard from someone that 18 of 20 recent Canadian Rhodes scholars were first-generation Canadians.

"Their parents were probably predominantly working in restaurants, driving cabs, and the like,'' he said. "So let's not measure everybody's value in terms of what they bring to the table economically, immediately.

"If somebody comes to Canada and says, 'I've got a solid work ethic, I'm honest, I'll do the very best that I can for myself and my family,' that's a pretty brave thing to leave your country and come to another country where there's a different culture and a different language and a different set of laws...

"I wouldn't want to discount the value we associate just with folks who come here and want to work hard, and find opportunity.''