The Conservative government's new immigration legislation has survived a key vote, despite an attempt by the New Democrats to block the controversial reforms.

MPs in the House of Commons on Wednesday voted 201-68 against the NDP motion that strove to block the Conservative budget implementation bill, which contains the new legislation.

New Democrat and Bloc Quebecois MPs supported the confidence motion, while Conservatives and Liberals opposed it. An election would have been triggered if the motion had passed.

Though the Liberals have slammed the reforms, calling them regressive and designed to attack immigrants, they were not expected to vote against them. But they have not ruled out doing so in future, as the budget bill is expected to face several more confidence votes, each of which could bring down the government.

The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act would give the government discretion to pick and choose which applicants to fast track or block.

Immigration Minister Diane Finley said the Conservatives have worked hard to come up with a solution to the "mess" she said was created by the Liberals, and there is little room for negotiation.

"I can stand hand on heart and say this is good for immigrants, good for business, good for newcomers to the country and it's certainly good for the country," Finley told CTV's Mike Duffy Live on Wednesday.

She said the Conservatives are willing to go to the polls over the bill, and will not consider amendments expected to be proposed by the NDP.

Under the current immigration system there is a waiting list of close to one million applicants -- with no way of fast-tracking those with skills that Canada needs, Finley said.

"If that person is number 600,000 in line we've got a lot of applications to get through before that," Finley said, noting that those highly-skilled applicants often give up on Canada because the backlog has been so long in recent years.

The proposed changes would allow the minister to speed up the process for applicants whose skills are in demand. However, opponents warn that shift could open the door to legislated discrimination.

During question period in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion asked Prime Minister Stephen Harper to admit the reforms would do nothing to reduce the massive backlog of applicants and would discourage potential immigrants from applying.

Harper shot back, attacking the Liberals' record on immigration.

"The Liberal party, Mr. Speaker, wants to go back to what they consider the good old days. The good old days where backlogs just kept getting longer, where you needed special access to government members, where frankly Mr. Speaker, they gave priority to strippers in terms of immigration policies and where after waiting for six years they charged immigrants $1,000 to come to Canada."

Harper was referring to the scandal that erupted in 2004 when it was revealed then Liberal immigration minister Judy Sgro had fast-tracked the immigration process for a campaign volunteer -- who also happened to be an exotic dancer from Romania

Ahead of the vote, Liberal immigration critic Maurizio Bevilacqua said the party has no interest in rejecting the bill before it even gets to committee, and Canadians should have a chance to weigh in on the proposals.

Bevilacqua didn't rule out the possibility of voting against the reforms at a later date, however.

Meanwhile, more than a dozen immigrant groups planned to protest the proposed changes on Wednesday in Toronto.

Sima Sahar Zerehi of the group Status Now, told Mike Duffy Live that the reforms could provide a framework for discrimination against visible minorities.

NDP immigration critic Olivia Chow acknowledged the system needs to be overhauled. But she argues that the proposed changes are undemocratic and would give the unfettered power to Finley to choose who gets fast-tracked, without any parliamentary involvement.