TORONTO - Ontario is the "economic engine'' of Canada and needs a federal government that will help the province muscle through the uncertain economic times that lie ahead, Premier Dalton McGuinty said in laying out his wish list for the upcoming federal budget.

With trouble in the manufacturing and auto sectors expected to continue, McGuinty said Ontario will be looking to the feds for help.

"Our unemployed workers, workers who lose their jobs because of economic dislocation today in Ontario, are getting $4,000 less by way of employment insurance than workers in other parts of the country,'' he said.

"That's not fair. That's not justifiable. The prime minister has to fix that. Not for me, but for the workers.''

He's also calling for capital cost allowances to be extended so businesses can write off new investments in equipment and technology to stay productive and competitive.

Investments in public transit and the Windsor border crossing are also crucial to ensuring people and goods can move swiftly, McGuinty said. The $17.5-billion cost of expanding public transit in the Greater Toronto Area alone shows the province can't do it without help, he added.

"If I had to sum it up to one thing: we want a partner,'' McGuinty said.

"We want someone who is prepared to stand by us in this time of economic challenge for certain of our sectors so we can help them transition through this difficult period.''

Next week's federal budget is expected to focus on keeping the economy from slipping further after manufacturing sales hit a three-year low in December, sparking fears of a recession.

But during a visit to Toronto last week, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty blamed Ontario's slumping manufacturing sector on high provincial business taxes and suggested McGuinty's out-of-control spending is threatening the economy.

Tim Hudak, finance critic for the Ontario Progressive Conservatives, echoed Flaherty's concerns.

"The challenge here is that it's been harmful Liberal economic policies like higher taxes, runaway spending and the high price of electricity that have chased over 160,000 manufacturing jobs from Ontario,'' Hudak said.

While he wants to see Ontario get its "fair share'' of funding from Ottawa, Hudak cited last summer's controversy over out-of-control capital grants, which cost Citizenship and Immigration Minister Mike Colle his job, as an example of Liberal waste and mismanagement.

A government source, however, suggested the Conservatives are simply preoccupied with the prospect of a federal election this spring and are "looking for people to blame for the challenges the country is facing.''

Hudak said he hopes the federal budget will contain tax cuts that promote job creation, and measures to reduce inter-provincial trade barriers.

Calling last year's Ontario economic statement a "carbon copy'' of the federal budget, which was chock full of industry tax breaks, NDP Leader Howard Hampton said it looks as though the provincial Liberals have found common ground with the federal Conservatives.

Hampton said he's hoping the federal budget will include spending on housing and transit infrastructure as well as "green'' innovation. He also wants to see more done for middle-income families and fewer corporate tax cuts.

"They seem to be in a race to give industry tax breaks,'' he said of both levels of government.

"Industry will always take tax breaks. They'll always take the money and run but it's not doing much in terms of sustaining jobs or creating new jobs. In that sense, I think they're both off base.''

The federal government can "insist on fair trade'' and invest in a restructuring fund for Ontario's manufacturing sector, but the province holds most of the policy tools that would prove most effective, Hampton added.

Skyrocketing hydro rates and employment laws that make it "cheap, easy and quick'' to shut down factories are driving manufacturers out of Ontario, he said.