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t reads like a who‘s who list of ICanadians and includes peoâ€" ple like former governor genâ€" eral Adrienne Clarkson, Canaâ€" da‘s first prime minister John A. Macdonald and former hockey great Wayne Gretzky. A little closer to home, some of the local captains of industry would also be on the list includâ€" ing Frank Hasenfrantz from Linamar, Klaus Woerner from ATS and even Mike Lazaridis of Research in Motion fame. None of these people would have been allowed into Canada, or made their contributions to Canadian society, due to the proposed changes to the Immiâ€" gration Act through Bill Câ€"50, said Waterloo MP Andrew Telegâ€" di. di. â€" â€" Andrew Telegdi "In fact 95 per cent of the Waterioo MP people in Canada wouldn‘t get in," said the longtime advoâ€" cate for immigration reform and citizenship changes. "Our community, that might be even higher because of the three universities." Telegdi, the longest serving member of the Citizenship and Immigration Committee, said there were changes needâ€" ed in the system but not changes that made immigration less equitable and exclusionary. . Some of the controversial changes proposed by the Conâ€" servative government include no longer guaranteeing people who qualify for landed immigrant status and have paid their fees a visa to enter Canada. That will now depend on the disâ€" cretion of the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration who will ultimately have the final say in issuing this important document. F That turns what was once an equitable process based on easily understood criteria to a subjective one open to the interpretation of the immigration minister. That makes Canada a less attractive destination, said Telegdi, especially at a time when it‘s trying to attract more skilled immigrants. "We have an objective system," said Telegdi. "It has a couple of problems, but it really is the legacy of Trudeau that we handle immigration objectively and transâ€" parently. Under the new legislation the immigration minister can also limit the number of immigration applications Canada accepts, deny admission to applicants already approved by immigration officers and block the entry of wouldâ€"be immiâ€" grants "by category or otherwise." The new points system is very restrictive and wouldn‘t allow many of the Canadians who have helped this country grow over the last 40 years. e â€" __"Now people can make that financial and emotional investment, and instead of they must get a visa they may get a visa. That becomes very problematic." __ As it stands Canada already has a backlog of 900,000 peoâ€" ple waiting to come to the country.Telegdi said these moves will only lengthen the delays and cause people to drop off the list. Immigration is important to Canada because the country needs a stable inflow of new people each year to make up for the country‘s changing demographics and aging baby boomer population. These new immigrants also fill roles and address job shortages in areas where it is difficult to find Canadians to do the work. "The points system doesn‘t allow the type of workers Canada needs," said Telegdi. "The way they try to get around that is with temporary foreign workers, which is the wrong route to go. Conestoga College will receive $290,000 in fiscal year 2008â€"2009 to provide continued opportunities for women to pursue education related to entering careers in the skilled trades. The funding comes via the Women in Skilled Trades proâ€" gram (WIST}, administered by the Ontario Women‘s Direcâ€" torate. _ The Conestoga allocation is part of a total of $1.5 million that will go towards WIST projects and initiatives in seven cities throughout the province. 0 â€" The WIST carpentry program will have enrolment space for 25 students, and will consist of 28 weeks of instructionâ€" followed by a 10â€"week period of work placement. . _ _ _ The funding will be used to deliver a general carpentry program starting in September at the campus in Waterloo. Waterloo campus gets funding Local MP critical of proposed changes to Immigration Act By Bos VrBANAC Chronicle Staff "If somebody is good enough to work here, they are good enough to live here." "If somebody is good enough to work here, they are good enough to live here." Telegdi held a special meetâ€" ing with community representaâ€" tives to discuss the changes, and seek possible recommendations about Bill Câ€"50, at Bingemans Conference Centre in Kitchener on Saturday. The event included represenâ€" tatives of a number of new immigrant groups as well as Barbara Jackman, a renowned immigration lawyer who said the changes have the potential to change the face of Canada in the future. "I think what the government is missing is that to make the decision to come here requires a certain amount of risk taking," said Telegdi, who emigrated from Hungary as a child. "That has served the country really well." WATERLOO CHRONICLE + Wednesday, April 30, 2008 « 5