If Premier Dalton McGuinty looks a little south he is going to be shocked. Right on Ontario's border there is a rebellion underway. It's the rust belt revolution.

The states that surround Ontario are undergoing unprecedented change. Faced with escalating deficits a new breed of governors are hitting public sector unions with an unwelcome dose of reality.

Wisconsin has been at the forefront of an ugly battle to roll back public sector perks. Newly elected Gov. Scott Walker has dug in his heels and the unions have turned the State Capital building into a war zone. If rhetoric was a dollar a bushel everyone would be getting rich.

Wisconsin is in tough times. The state is facing a $3.6-billion deficit over the next two years. Ontarians, who are shouldering the burden of annual deficits approaching $20 billion, should be green with envy. But unlike McGuinty, whose response to increasing government debt is limited to looking concerned, Walker seems determined to fix the problem of chronic government overspending.

Walker is facing the angst of the unions and the fiscal realities head on. In addition to seeking higher employee contributions to pensions and health care, he is determined to permanently alter the power balance between unions and taxpayers. Apparently he thinks taxpayers should be the boss.

This is a startling notion for the unions who have grown fat off the public purse. Much like Ontario, where McGuinty has made a career of paying back the teacher unions that helped elect him, preceding Wisconsin administrations have bargained for, not against, the unions. The result has been lucrative contracts with benefits not enjoyed by the taxpayers who are stuck with the bill. Walker thinks that is wrong.

He has proposed such "draconian" measures as the introduction of democracy to unions and limiting the scope of contract negotiations. Gosh, how can that be fair?

Walker wants the public sector unions to actually go through the indignity of actually doing the work of collecting dues directly from their members. Worse, he has proposed that union members should have the right to an annual secret ballot election to certify the union. Shocking. No wonder some of the bright lights on the union side have compared him to Hitler.

Gov. Walker is not on his own in this battle. In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie has turned four years of austerity into a potential bid for the presidency. In Indiana, Gov. Mitch Daniels tough love has turned deficits into surpluses.

In a state that has been at the grinding end of the recession, Michigan, Gov. Rick Snyder is proposing big cuts to the public service. He is counting on the support of the taxpayers, many of whom have experienced the abrupt reshaping of the auto sector. They have little sympathy for the public sector unions who have dodged the nasty effects of the recession.

The unions are none too happy these days. Actually they are mad as hell. Ground zero for that anger is Madison, Wisconsin.

In Madison thousands of public workers have abandoned their public responsibilities and occupied the state legislature. The party is officially over.

All of this should give McGuinty a very large headache.

It would seem taxpayers actually care about deficits. This is not good news for a premier who has maxed out the credit card.

More importantly it seems the public has had their fill of the cozy relationship between politicians and public unions. Gosh, maybe buying peace with borrowed money isn't such a good idea after all.

Vivian McCaffrey | Executive Staff | Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario | 416-962-3836 or 1-888-838-3836; ext. 2333 | etfo.ca