Ontario Premier Ernie Eves is attacking federal immigration policies he claims allow criminals and "other bad people'' into Canada, and wants more control over who settles in the province.

"War criminals, would-be terrorists and other bad people get into Canada because the federal Liberals have created a system that seems to work for no one,'' Eves said in a campaign stop in Thornhill, a community north of Toronto.

"It is not only frightening, it's sad. It's sad that good, honest, hard-working people routinely cannot get into this country yet war criminals are here already.''

Eves, who's pushing for provincial control over immigration similar to the set-up in Quebec, did not elaborate on which war criminals he was referring to as he visited a company that employs many new Canadians.

Quebec gets $3,000 per immigrant from Ottawa, says Eves, whereas Ontario only gets $750. Eves wants parity with Quebec, including the right to pick and choose immigrants.

He called for increased federal funding to screen immigrants in their home countries, and warned that Ontario Liberals would support a federal immigration policy he says keeps good candidates on waiting lists for years.

Liberal immigration critic Marie Bountrogianni chastised Eves for treating new Canadians as criminals.

"Ernie Eves is so desperate to cling to power that he is engaging in Canadian Alliance-style code words and race-baiting,'' said Bountrogianni.

"This is politics that appeals to the lowest common denominator and it's despicable.''

Eves' staff handed out a transcript of the American current affairs television show 60 Minutes that re-ran an item Sunday night portraying what the show claimed was Canada's lax immigration policies. The segment originally aired shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

New Democrat Leader Howard Hampton called Eves' comments a disgrace.

"Having an immigration system where Ontario has some input and some say into how that immigration system is organized is a good idea in principle,'' Hampton said.

"The Conservatives simply want to play the race card in the middle of an election and I just find that disgraceful and disgusting.''

But Eves insisted he wasn't bashing immigrants. Instead, he said, he wants a system that matches immigrants' skills with Ontario's needs. The Tories would ask immigrants to live in communities other than Toronto.

"We simply can't afford to have Dalton McGuinty's Liberals defending the status quo and their friends in Ottawa while we are risking both the prosperity of our province and our security,'' Eves said.

"Earlier this summer, Canadians learned that 59 war criminals are in Canada and the Liberal government in Ottawa quite frankly doesn't know where they are," he added.

"They could be right under their noses in Ottawa, they could be in Toronto, they could be right here in Thornhill."

The Tories have listed immigration under the crime and security portion of their election platform.

With reports from CFTO News and Canadian Press