A collaborative program between the federal and provincial governments is providing funding support for businesses in Manitoba to train employees.

Manitoba education and training minister Ian Wishart and member of Parliament for St. Boniface/St. Vital Dan Vandal held a news conference at Tactica Communications on Marion Street today, to tout the Canada-Manitoba Job Grant program.

The province says, though the latest round of grants, nearly 3,600 workers at 163 Manitoba companies are receiving training.

Wishart says this is an area where the province and federal government work very well together.

"Only by working together can we be as effective as we are. If we tried to do this separately, I suspect neither one of us would be anywhere near as effective as we are working together," says Wishart.

Another speaker today was Vadim Konokov. He's a technical lead at Tactica, starting as a senior web developer last summer. Konokov says he wanted to upgrade his skills, and he wanted to transition into more of a leadership role. Konokov says he took a six week training course on leadership, after his boss asked if he'd be interested in such a move.

"The course was really fantastic," says Konokov. He says the course is expensive, and if not for the grant, Tactica may have had to sacrifice some other opportunities.

Through the grants, the governments have invested $4.7-million in training for Manitoba companies this fiscal year; the governments expect another $1-million dollars to be granted by the end of March.