Foothills M.P. John Barlow had a long day on Saturday, May 27 watching as the Federal Conservative leadership race went through 13 rounds of balloting before declaring a winner.

He has spent the last year supporting Saskatchewan member of Parliament Andrew Scheer in his bid to be the new Leader.

Barlow says he was surprised at how nervous he was.

"It felt like game seven of the Stanley Cup playoffs for us," said Barlow. "We were in the game and we knew how much work we put into it. We saw the results and how close it was, it was nerve racking."

Barlow has been working with Scheer for a year to help him get elected as Leader.

Throughout the first 12 ballots Scheer's lead grew, but he was always just behind front-runner Maxime Berneir, until the thirteenth ballot when just the two of them remained.

Barlow says all the hard work everyone put in paid off.

"This showed that every single vote counted, and every email and facebook post and phone calls and conversations we had with members certainly made a difference."

Barlow says he is excited to get to work with Scheer and believes he is the right choice to lead the party.

"We wanted somebody who was genuine, authentic, composite, but had a positive attitude, but also had those conservative policies that we wanted as part of our leader. I think that is why Andrew is attractive to so many of us that are in caucus."