The Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce says it welcomes investments in affordability in the provincial budget tabled on Thursday – and that includes increasing the Basic Personal Amount to $12,750 in 2023 and $13,500 in 2024. Over the last year in its submissions and meetings with government, the Chamber has called on the province to increase the Basic Personal Amount to at least $13,000 by 2024 to better align with the national average. The Charlottetown Chamber says it was disappointed to not see anything on supporting small business owners with the high cost of doing business. In a recent survey of chamber members, cost of doing business was ranked the number one concern for respondents for 2023. The Chamber was also disappointed to not see more related to growing and sustaining the workforce, as many businesses are still feeling the impacts of a labour shortage.