TORONTO — Ontario is telling Ottawa to abolish the Senate or give the province more seats in any plans to reform the upper chamber.

On the eve of its presentation to a special committee on Senate reform, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Marie Bountrogianni said Wednesday the upper chamber should either be scrapped or Ontario should be given a larger percentage of the total seats.

"It is the federal government and if they persist and want to do this, then our recourse would be to ensure Ontario is treated fairly,'' she said. "We have to insist on fair representation.''

Since Ontario has 40 per cent of the country's population, Bountrogianni said the province should have more than its current 23 per cent of the Senate seats. She said more details about the government's position on Senate reform will be presented to a special Senate committee Thursday.

Still, Bountrogianni said there are more pressing concerns facing the federal government, such as post-secondary education and infrastructure, than Senate reform.

"It shouldn't be a priority for the country,'' she said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said his government is working on a plan to elect senators and limit their terms to eight years as a first step to Senate reform.

Harper -- who appeared before the same special Senate committee that's looking at his proposal to limit senators' terms -- told senators they'll face "political consequences'' if they thwart his efforts to reform the upper house.

While the committee has already heard from Harper, academics and think-tanks on the issue, it is now getting input from the provinces.

Gary Mar, Alberta's minister for international and intergovernmental relations, told the hearing Tuesday that the Senate should follow the Triple-E model: effective, elected and with each province having an equal number of senators.

That opinion will make it difficult for Ontario to gain more Senate seats, said Graham White, a political science professor at the University of Toronto. Any change to the proportion of Senate seats would require a constitutional amendment, he said.

"That's just not going to happen,'' White said, adding he doesn't understand why Ontario is lobbying for more senators.

"Given in terms of raw, serious political power, the Senate doesn't have it. I don't see whether Ontario has 24, 18 or 36 seats is going to make a whole lot of difference.''