Windsor's mayor says Premier Dalton McGuinty needs to change the way public contracts are arbitrated if Ontario municipalities are to extend the public sector wage freeze to municipal police and firefighters.

McGuinty announced Sunday that all public-sector workers in Ontario - including police and firefighters who escaped the recent wage-freeze edict - need to do their part to reduce the province's massive deficit.

About 350,000 non-unionized public-sector workers will have their wages frozen immediately, while 710,000 unionized workers will see theirs capped for two years after existing contracts expire. Only municipalities were excluded, but McGuinty is urging them to do the same, and for police and firefighters to help make it happen.

Mayor Eddie Francis said, however, that Ontario needs to introduce legislative changes to how contracts are arbitrated if the province is to cap the wages of police and firefighters.

Most police and firefighter contracts are settled by arbitration, not negotiation, according to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, which represents most of the 444 towns and cities in the province.

Unless the governing Liberals change the rules to get around arbitration, municipal leaders like Francis said there's little chance they can freeze wages.

"We would more than welcome legislative changes to how arbitrators award decisions," Francis said Monday.

"If the premier and the province are prepared to introduce that, to allow us to give us the tools to hold the line on wages as it relates to fire and police…I'm certain that most mayors and most communities across this province, and most municipalities, if not all, would support the tools."

Windsor police are set to start negotiating with the city over their contract in early April.

Firefighters are still in arbitration after their contract expired in 2006.

With files from The Canadian Press.