The fall sitting of the legislature didn’t do much for small businesses in the province, according to the Canadian Federation of Independant Businesses (CFIB).

Before MLA’s met at Province House, 80 percent of small businesses said the cost of doing business were their top concern.

“Small businesses are heartened, however, to see an end to the “better paycheque guarantee” conversation,” said Duncan Robertson, a senior policy analyst at CFIB. “With questions around the uncertainty of eligibility, its impact on employee-employer relations, and how this policy would impact self-employed entrepreneurs going answered for the past two years, small businesses now have the clarity they need.”

However, CFIB said they will continue to call on the provincial government to take action to improve the environment with small businesses, including tax relief this winter. CFIB added they could do that by increasing the small business tax threshold or lowering the tax rate itself, so small businesses can pay down debt and increase employee compensation, with wages or benefits.

Small businesses currently have the highest payroll tax burden in the country.

“With the holiday season approaching, over half of the province’s small businesses will be looking to holiday sales to stay in the black. The government may be leaving coal in the stockings of small businesses, but consumers still have the chance to help local small businesses thrive,” Robertson added. “When shopping at a local small business this holiday season,66 cents out of every dollar stays local compared to only 11 cents when shopping at a multinational and only eight cents when shopping at an online giant. When small businesses thrive, our communities thrive.”