Spending in Canada’s oil and natural gas sector has fallen by a record C$50bn (US$38bn) over the past two years, according to an industry group representing oil and gas producers operating in the country. Capital spending had dropped by 62 per cent since 2014, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers found, marking the biggest two-year decline since 1947 when the data were first collected. The group predicted that total capital investment in the oil and natural gas sector would fall to C$31bn in 2016, down from C$48bn the previous year and a record C$81bn in 2014, when prices started to plunge. The drop in capital spending has dragged down business investment and employment in other sectors of the economy, with unemployment surging in the oil-sensitive province of Alberta and helping to push up Canada’s national jobless rate to 7.3 per cent. Justin Trudeau, the prime minister, has unveiled a plan to invest in infrastructure and provide tax measures to boost economic growth.