The news that SaskPower is taking a second look at the cost effectiveness of a natural gas plant in Moose Jaw late last week surprised Mayor Fraser Tolmie.

Minister Responsible for SaskPower Dustin Duncan said that recently announced federal regulations when it came to the calculation of the carbon tax were the reason that SaskPower was reconsidering the building of the plant.

Tolmie said he let the news percolate over the weekend.

“On Monday morning, I sat down with some of our people in administration, and we started making phone calls,” he said. “We reached out to SaskPower, we reached out to the provincial government, and we reached out to the federal government.”

Tolmie said they fought hard to have the power plant in the community and they'll fight hard to keep it.

The plant would have provided hundreds of jobs in construction and about a couple dozen jobs once it was operational.

“We’re going to allow SaskPower to look through the regulations that the federal government has just recently released and we’re going to meet with them in the next couple of days here,” Tolmie said. “I’m not giving up on this project. I believe in it. I think SaskPower realizes they need baseline power. And the challenges with some of the federal regulations that have been coming down, the move to have a natural gas power plant was a logical move and we want to ensure this project moves forward.”