TORONTO - Premier Dalton McGuinty says he will consider adding 18 seats to the Ontario legislature to match planned changes to the House of Commons.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently announced legislation to add 30 new members of Parliament because of population growth: 18 in Ontario, seven in British Columbia and five in Alberta.

McGuinty says his Liberal government will take a look at adding a similar number of seats to the provincial legislature, although it wouldn't happen until the 2015 election.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak says the last thing Ontario needs is more politicians, especially in tough economic times.

However, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says she'd welcome new members of the legislature, noting that some Ontario ridings, especially in the north, are the size of France.

Ontario generally mirrors federal ridings for its legislature, although the province maintained one additional northern riding that was wiped out by Ottawa in the last redistribution of Commons seats.

Ontario has 107 MPPs, down from a peak of 130 that former Conservative premier Mike Harris scaled back in 1996 to cut the cost of government.

Normally, the seating in the House of Commons is adjusted after each census using a complex formula adopted in 1985, but the federal Conservatives say that formula penalized some regions.

The new legislation would update the formula to make sure future readjustments help the faster-growing provinces.