What's different about this wind project from others is profits wouldn't sail away to multinational head offices. Instead, monies would be windsocked back into the community, in this case the RM of Elton, just north of Brandon across the Trans-Canada Highway.

"If this flies, it will be the first in North America," said Mazier, a grain and livestock farmer in the area.

The idea of "keeping the profits at home" is as old as farmer grain co-ops, now blowing in the wind, and the Canadian Wheat Board -- three generations of relative farmer solidarity under threat now from the Harper government.

The math for Elton Energy Co-op goes something like this: wind power plus people powerequals community benefits.

The group hopes to build a single wind turbine for $5 million, capable of generating 2 megawatts of power. That's enough to power about 1,500 homes, Mazier said.

Mazier doesn't know how profitable Elton's wind turbine could be but he's seen where existing wind turbines are netting $300,000 to $350,000 each per year, before debt payments.

In other words, "windustry," as it's being called, is big business. In Manitoba, 17 wind developers recently filed 84 proposals for wind farms costing hundreds of millions of dollars each to build. Manitoba Hydro has shortlisted the proposals down to 10.

"There's money somewhere," opined Mazier.

Most of the wind developers are multinationals with Canadian head offices in urban centres like Calgary and Toronto.

"It's ingrained in all of us that big business knows what it's doing. I think there's a lot more opportunity for rural Manitoba if we take control of renewable resources ourselves," Mazier said.

Instead of a string of turbines, which can be eyesores and result in resident complaints, Elton Energy plans to put up just one.

"Do we want 50-to-60 turbines? Or do we want just one or two?" said Mazier.

It's been a lot harder to pull off than expected, with all the engineer, design, environmental and feasibility studies required, plus the development of a system people can invest in, and figuring out land leases.

The return to investors has not been determined but might be similar to Manitoba Hydro Bonds, whose returns vary greatly depending on the series but have been in the five-to-seven per cent range.

At the very least, Elton Energy is creating a template for other communities to follow to build their own wind turbine, Mazier said.

The federal Co-op Development Initiative has put up $50,000 for a feasibility study, and the RM another $3,500. The project will have to raise about $2.5 million from investors to buy a wind turbine, "and the rest you borrow from the bank."

Turbine manufacturers require that 90 per cent of the money is paid upfront before construction, and there is a two-year waiting list.

"ö"ö"ö

Speaking of solidarity, tiny Pilot Mound doesn't stand a chance of winning the title of Hockeyville if Manitobans don't show some solidarity.

This isn't just home boosterism. These folks really deserve to win but won't because they're the smallest community -- unless we support them. A winner is determined based on judging and the number of online votes.

There are five finalists up for CBC's title of Hockeyville: Kingsville, Ont. (19,200 people); Glace de Roberval, Que., (10,800); Port aux Basques, Newfoundland (4,600) and Pilot Mound (630).

Wilcox, Sask. is the other entry with 250 people but that doesn't include 350 students at its vaunted private hockey school, Notre Dame College. Include those students and their families and graduates through the years, and that's a much bigger contingent.

Actually, Wilcox would be a very deserving winner if Pilot Mound wasn't more deserving. Notre Dame College is a great hockey factory, producing stars like Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards, Wendel Clark, and Rod Brindamour.

But it's not as great an accomplishment as what people in Pilot Mound have done. They have almost completed construction of a state-of-the-art hockey arena with virtually all volunteer labour. It's taken them eight years.

The frame came from tearing down Manitoba Hydro's temporary rec centre for hydro dam workers at Sundown, 12 hours north of Pilot Mound. In a span of 40 days, Pilot Mound volunteers tore down the rec centre and moved it to their community.

They've been putting it back up ever since, with many modifications. Contractors were hired to supervise volunteers where expertise is needed, but otherwise all the work has come from unpaid dreamers.