Charlottetown, PE (February 7, 2022) – The Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce recently submitted its 2022-23 provincial pre-budget submission, entitled Recovery to Prosperity: An Economy Where Everyone Gets Ahead. The Chamber outlined nine key areas of relief or investment, with a large focus on the Island workforce and current labour shortage.
“We were pleased to submit our 2022-23 provincial pre-budget recommendations in what we know is a pivotal time for our province and its economy,” said Robert Godfrey, CEO of the Chamber. “This document provides clear recommendations that our members feel will help our economy recover post-pandemic, with a large focus on the labour shortage and Island workers.”
The nine recommendations, which were developed based on the collective feedback from the Chamber’s membership and advocacy committee, include:
- Ensuring sufficient and timely planning, policy, communications, and resources to effectively manage COVID-19 to keep Islanders safe and businesses open.
- Increase supports to meet interest and demand for customized retraining and reskilling programs as the workforce and the work across sectors evolves.
- Continue improving upon primary healthcare to create a healthier workforce and attract talent into our province to fill workforce gaps.
- Review and update the Housing Action Plan for PEI to reflect the current housing supply shortage as a way to help improve workforce gaps.
- Review our K-12 educational outcomes and make the necessary adjustments to improve upon our assessment scoring to better prepare the workforce of the future.
- Maintain funding for entrepreneurial and career-focused immigration support services through PEI Connectors, and funding for employer EDI training through Lead The Shift.
- Ensure provincial supports are in place to continue with aggressive immigration targets locally to match the Federal Government’s effort, thus growing our population and economy simultaneously.
- Continue to increase the Basic Personal Amount to $12,000 by 2023 and tie subsequent increases to the Consumer Price Index, while exploring further ways to help low-income Islanders.
- Re-evaluate the provincial income tax bracket model to better align with the Atlantic provinces and leave more money in the pockets of Islanders, especially low-income Islanders.
“We encourage our provincial government to utilize these recommendations to help boost our economy during the next fiscal year,” said Godfrey. “We look forward to continue working with the province and Department of Finance to advance initiatives of the Chamber in a collaborative manner.”
Click here to read the Chamber’s 2022-23 provincial pre-budget submission.
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About The Chamber:
The Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce connects business and community and is PEI’s largest business advocacy organization with more than 1,100 members. For more information on the Chamber visit www.charlottetownchamber.com.
Media Contact:
Sam MacPhail
Policy and Communications Manager
smacphail@charlottetownchamber.com
(902) 628-2000 x 224