That is a very good question. Clearly, I am in no position to make announcements because it is not up to me to do so.
Right now, we have the wind in our sails. We took this turn five years ago. At the beginning of my presentation, I said that, in 1996, prosperity was the watchword in Manitoba. The idea was to encourage our communities to take charge of their lives, especially in terms of the economy that was very focused on the primary sector, in order to further develop the secondary and tertiary sectors.
For the past five years, we have been developing a more sustainable model that hinges on the environment and the social sector in addition to the economy. This has allowed us to have a firsthand experience at the provincial level in doing the greenhouse gas inventory and helping our communities develop structuring and mobilizing projects.
Under the previous building Canada plan, we contributed to 14 projects. In some cases, projects amounted to about $8.6 million in 2008. If we look at the leverage effects, the return is between 1% and 14%.
The green economy is now in the same place as the Internet was in the 1980s. We do not want to miss this turn. Today, we have become almost the only show in town in Manitoba to support rural municipalities in particular. These municipalities had been forgotten and were not part of this major movement or trend, which is often very urban or suburban in nature. In this way, we are able to bring innovation to the market and to support our entrepreneurs by placing them in a strong position. We can also allow our municipalities to develop projects that can be used as models elsewhere. Projects may include the co-generation of electricity by using geothermal energy or biomass in the central heating systems of universities, and so on.
All our communities have projects based on these opportunities, especially for the treatment of sewage, compost and waste. They are economic champions compared to other communities. We are now the leaders in this field in Manitoba.
The project that will be supported by the federal government through the Western Economic Diversification program will affect four western provinces, but I am not able to make announcements. That is not my job.