The damage Justin Trudeau’s government has done to the oil and gas sector means Canada needs a Conservative government to bring investment to the country, according to an economist.

Economist David Doyle of the Australia-based Macquarie Group believes that the energy sector would see an immediate upswing if the Conservatives get elected this fall.

“The current Liberal government is widely viewed as having not been the most favourable government for the energy sector,” Doyle told BNN Bloomberg.

“I think if Canada shifted a little bit to the right and we had a Conservative government, it might lead to some strength coming through for the energy sector.”

Because Canada is so reliant on the energy sector, a boost would see immediate benefits throughout the broader Canadian economy.

Much of the upswing, Doyle said, would come from an increase in foreign investment that he predicts a government led by Andrew Scheer would bring.

“I think foreign investors, in particular, would start to look at the space more closely if you did end up with a Conservative government in October.”

With a sputtering energy sector, bearish forecasts have become commonplace for Canadians, as well as those in the investment world.

“We find people to be incredibly pessimistic about the outlook. Basically, the sector is being – for lack of a better term – left for dead,” Doyle said.

One recent poll suggests that only 22 per cent of Canadians believe the country is doing better under the Trudeau government, whereas over twice as many believe it’s doing worse.

When ranking leaders, Scheer scored the best in eight out of 12 key sectors, including taxes, economic growth and employment.

While the Trudeau government has forced a carbon tax on Canadians and passed bill C-69 which stifles all new pipeline projects, Scheer has promised to reverse both these decisions.

With many in the energy industry feeling that the current government has abandoned them, many energy workers will be hoping Canadians elect pro-development politicians this fall.

Justin Trudeau has named longtime anti-energy sector activist Joyce Murray President of the Treasury Board, the newest addition to cabinet after multiple resignations and shuffles.

Murray, Member of Parliament for Vancouver Quadra, was named President of the Treasury Board after Jane Philpott resigned citing her loss of confidence in the Trudeau government two weeks ago.

Murray has been a lifelong climate activist who has spent her time in office fighting oil and gas development projects.

Recently Murray spoke out in disappointment at her own party for approving the Trans Mountain Expansion project, which they later bungled and  spent $4.5 billion of taxpayer money to buy.

“Cabinet’s decision to approve the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Expansion project is incredibly disappointing for me and for many in Vancouver Quadra and British Columbia,” Murray said.

She also took partial credit for the recent Trudeau government ban of oil tankers off the coast of Northern B.C. which effectively killed the Northern Gateway pipeline project.

“I am very pleased that my seven years of effort to protect B.C.’s north coast by legislating a ban on crude oil tanker traffic have now born fruit,” she said.

As President of the Treasury Board, Murray will be in charge of administering regulations, cabinet order, and managing public finances.

Trudeau’s decision to appoint Murray to this important position is just one of many examples of the government’s disdain for the energy sector.

In 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, “we can’t shut down the oil sands tomorrow. We need to phase them out.”

Former Treasury President Jane Philpott resigned in wake of the SNC-Lavalin scandal and the alleged treatment of former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould.

“I have been considering the events that have shaken the federal government in recent weeks and after serious reflection, I have concluded that I must resign as a member of Cabinet,” she said in her resignation.

“Sadly, I have lost confidence in how the government has dealt with this matter and in how it has responded to the issues raised,” she said.

Wilson-Raybould herself also resigned from cabinet after being demoted to Minister of Veterans Affairs – a move that came after she alleges high ranking Liberals pressured her to give a beneficial deal to SNC-Lavalin.

The public remains worried about the growing practice of birth tourism, despite the federal government’s defense of the current laws, which do nothing to stop it.

The growing phenomenon often sees wealthy women from Europe, Russia, China and elsewhere fly to Canada late in their pregnancy, give birth in a Canadian hospital to collect a Canadian passport for their newborn child, before returning home.

Current laws allow the children of foreign parents to gain citizenship so long as they are born on Canadian soil.

British Columbia is the epicentre of birth tourism in Canada. In a recent survey, 82 per cent of British Columbians believe birth tourism takes advantage of Canadian social services, and 66 per cent say it degrades the value of Canadian citizenship.

Nearly two-thirds also believe that servicing birth tourists will negatively impact their access to healthcare, maternal or otherwise.

In 2018 concerned citizens in Richmond, B.C. started a petition asking the government to state that it does not support birth tourism, and commit to reduce or eliminate the practice.

The petition was eventually brought to the House of Commons by MP Joe Peschisolido.

Rather than consider the concerns of the public, the government defended the current laws which give anyone born on Canadian soil automatic citizenship.

Last year, the issue of birth tourism popped up again at the Conservative Party’s policy convention when delegates voted in favour of a policy motion to “fully eliminate birthright citizenship in Canada unless one of the parents … is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada.”

In response, Trudeau’s former top aide Gerald Butts started pushing misinformation about the conservative motion, stating “they committed to give the government the power to strip people born in Canada of Canadian citizenship.”

In Richmond alone, birth tourists accounted for nearly 400 of the births performed in the city hospital alone, up from just 18 in 2010.

Today birth tourists account for 20% of the deliveries at the Richmond Hospital.

“(The data) shows the steady growth in the number of babies born in hospitals to women who are residents of other countries, by absolute numbers and percentage, for all provinces except Quebec,” says Andrew Griffith, a researcher who has studied birth tourism in-depth.

“These births total just over one per cent of all live births in English Canada.”

Many countries, including the United Kingdom, India, and New Zealand, have all changed their laws in recent years to prevent children born to foreign parents in the countries from getting citizenship automatically.

The Trudeau government has made it clear that Canada will not be changing its laws surrounding birth tourism anytime soon.