The Federal Government and the Province of Manitoba announced $1.1-million in funding for a new project at the Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg.

The Centre for Environmental and Economic Resilience will serve as an incubator for ideas and discussion between social enterprises - working on new ways and technologies to help work towards low-carbon living - and businesses looking for ways to become more green.

"This generous investment of the Government of Canada and the Province of Manitoba signals a bold vision for cross-sector relationships and projects in service of society's well-being," said CMU President, Cheryl Pauls. "Small, social enterprises that are concerned about those mandates can now work together to collectively create good effects in terms of jobs for more people and livelihood that addresses inequality and turns it into equality that's much more broadly spread."

"Whether it's a composting company or a company working towards conservation, we want to see these groups grow and encourage them to try new ideas" she continued. "They need to rubbing shoulders with more people in order to get these things done."

Manitoba Education and Training Minister, Ian Wishart says a lot of private businesses are skeptical when it comes to new ways and technologies aimed at being more environmentally friendly. He says oftentimes the pay off takes too long or they don't fully understand how these practices can help their business and the environment.

He hopes by opening up a place for discussion on these ideas, businesses will understand the benefits of being more environmentally friendly.

"There's a lot of options out there for private companies that they wouldn't move ahead on with without more information," said Wishart. "But now we have a place where they can go to for information, and they can work with the social enterprises we will hopefully locate there."

"Private industries will move on something if they know there's going to be positive results, but they don't like to experiment," he continued. "So here we have a group that will experiment, do the research and demonstrate their findings and make sure it can happen into the future."

The total cost of the project is estimated at $1.68-million with the Government of Canada providing $745,906 in funding through the Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund, while the Province of Manitoba is providing $418,504.

CMU will provide the remainder of the balance.