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Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty is bracing to become the lone man of Confederation once again, as he pushes for a radical overhaul of national wealth-sharing programs that he says leave his province picking up more than its fair share of the tab.

He is calling for reforms to the federal equalization program to take into account Ontario's waning prosperity relative to the growing wealth of Canada's resource-rich provinces.

"It's in everybody's interests that we find a way to get Ontario back on its feet," Mr. McGuinty told reporters yesterday.

A report by Toronto-Dominion Bank economists released this week says Ontario is poised to join the ranks of the have-not provinces as early as 2010, making it a recipient of equalization payments for the first time.

It's "perverse" for Canada's most populous province to keep giving away a disproportionate share of its wealth to prop up the rest of the country when it is deemed in need of subsidies, Mr. McGuinty said. Ontario's net fiscal deficit - the difference between what the province contributed to federal coffers and what it received from Ottawa - was $21-billion in 2005.

"We find ourselves in a period of economic challenge," he said. "I think during those periods, we should be allowed to keep a bit more of our own wealth."

Mr. McGuinty has been down this path before. In 2005, he fought for a fairer deal from Ottawa. While he succeeded in wresting more money from Ottawa, the fight resulted in bitter divisions between himself and other premiers.

Mr. McGuinty said he expects to wage another lonely battle with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"There has not been a great deal of sympathy for the Ontario cause," he acknowledged. Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty appears determined to continue pushing Mr. McGuinty to cut business taxes to help stimulate the economy. In Question Period yesterday, Mr. Flaherty suggested that John McCallum do the same when the Liberal MP asked when he will stop "sucker-punching" his own province.

The equalization program is designed to give money to Canada's poorer provinces so they can provide social services comparable to the richer ones. In fiscal 2009, the federal government was set to distribute $13.6-billion in equalization payments to every province except Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan. However, Newfoundland won't collect equalization next year, for the first time since the program was introduced in 1951, because of its rising offshore oil revenues.

Ontario at one time enjoyed one of the highest standards of living in Canada. But a high Canadian dollar and weak demand in the U.S. for goods manufactured in Ontario are hurting the province's ability to raise revenue. The province's gross domestic capita per individual slipped below the national average last year. Those provinces whose fiscal capacity falls below the national average over a three-year period receive equalization.