For four years, Premier Dalton McGuinty fought a lonely campaign for "fairness" for Ontario within Confederation.

McGuinty had the nerve to point out that taxpayers in this province send billions more to other provinces (through Ottawa) than they receive back and that many federal programs blatantly discriminate against Ontario.

While he had the facts and some business leaders on his side, McGuinty was mostly castigated for his temerity – by much of the media, other premiers (one called him "anti-Canadian"), opposition leaders at Queen's Park, and federal politicians.A federal Liberal minister from Ontario sniffed that McGuinty's concerns were "of very little interest to the average citizen." A federal Conservative minister from Ontario called McGuinty "the small man of Confederation."

But bit by bit, McGuinty gained ground. He won equity in funding for immigration and training programs, social transfers (other than health), and infrastructure projects. Then in last week's federal budget, Ontario gained equal funding for health transfers (an $878 million windfall for the province) and creation of a regional development agency for southern Ontario (the only part of Canada without one).

The budget also included a promise of a national securities commission. And earlier, the Conservative government in Ottawa signalled it would introduce legislation giving Ontario its fair share of seats in the House of Commons. Both initiatives would meet long-standing demands by this province.

There are reasons other than McGuinty's powers of persuasion for these federal concessions, of course. For one thing, the political ground is shifting in Ottawa from Quebec (which the Conservatives mistakenly saw as the path to a majority) to Ontario (now the chosen path).

But McGuinty's persistence was surely a factor as well, and it has been rewarded.