Foothills MP John Barlow has thrown his support behind Saskatchewan MP Andrew Scheer for the leadership of the federal Conservatives.

He brought Scheer to his riding Friday November 25 to show him around.

Scheer says Justin Trudeau's belief that a national carbon tax is needed to level the playing field for every province doesn't make sense.

"This is one of the arguments that I found baffling when Trudeau introduced the carbon tax federally," Sheer says. "He said it wouldn't be fair if some provinces had a carbon tax and others, like Saskatchewan didn't have a carbon tax and I thought that was just backwards. My mom used to always say if your friends jump off a cliff doesn't mean you jump off a cliff and if other provinces are stupid enough to put in  a job killing tax and Saskatchewan stands alone we should be an inspiration, we shouldn't be forced to go along."

He says he understands the feeling of alienation happening in Alberta when the province's major industry is seemingly being ignored in Ottawa.

"We have a lot of people out here who rely on the natural resource sector and we have a government in Ottawa that act's like it's embarrassed about it," he says. "We produce world class energy products and we do it in a way that's environmentally stable, and we take the royalties from that extraction and build schools, hospitals and roads, we should not be embarrassed of our natural resource sector we should be proud of it, we should market it around the world."

Scheer says he's received a very positive greeting from Foothills area residents during his visit.