TORONTO - Ontario needs the federal Conservatives to drop their philosophical opposition to using government money to help manufacturers, not more lectures from federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty about the province's so-called "out of control'' spending, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Tuesday.

With economic storm clouds darkening and tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs already lost, McGuinty said Ontario needs the federal government to partner with struggling manufacturers to help them invest to modernize, expand and create new jobs.

"The thing that I want them to do is set aside their ideological aversion to working with business to helping business grow. We're beyond that era,'' McGuinty said.

"For us to be able to assert ourselves in a highly competitive global economy, we need to be able to say to large, multinational corporations: If you come here, both levels of government are prepared to sit down with you.''

McGuinty said next week's federal budget should include a plan to match a $1.1-billion Ontario fund which helps manufacturers expand operations if they create new jobs -- a clear signal the Conservative government "recognizes there's more to the Canadian economy than oil and gas.''

McGuinty also complained that Ontario workers get $4,000 less in Employment Insurance benefits than people in other provinces, and said the federal budget should also include more infrastructure spending, especially on public transit and the Windsor-Detroit border crossing.

Flaherty took several shots at McGuinty during a speech in Toronto last Friday, saying Canada is in a good position to weather any economic slowdown, but could do even better if Ontario would only cut business taxes and curb spending.

"Of the various economies and the various provinces in Canada, I can tell you my most significant worries as a financial minister are with respect to my home province of Ontario,'' Flaherty said.

McGuinty fired back Tuesday, saying Ontario's corporate taxes are lower than Ottawa's now and will still be lower when cuts introduced by Flaherty are fully implemented in 2014, and said he doesn't need any more economic lessons from the federal finance minister.

"Three-quarters of all the money that we spend here in Ontario goes into health and education,'' McGuinty said.

"Mr. Flaherty did not hesitate to make cuts to those areas when he was minister of finance here in Ontario, and he obviously holds the same view while he's minister of finance with the federal government.''

McGuinty also rejected the idea of more tax cuts -- Flaherty's preferred method of helping businesses -- saying manufacturers aren't worried about taxes on their profits when they aren't making any money.

"They're struggling today and they need a partner, somebody who is going to help them make investments today so they are stronger tomorrow,'' he said. "Corporate income tax cuts don't help a business that is struggling.''

But Ontario Conservative Leader John Tory said McGuinty should do more himself to help businesses instead of pointing fingers at the federal government.

"He is Premier `Pass the Buck' McGuinty,'' Tory said.

"He's got a wish list that's as long as his arm, but he won't get at his own to-do list on reducing taxes and regulations.''

Ontario's New Democrats want the federal government to forget about more tax cuts and focus the budget spending on housing, transit and infrastructure projects.