Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says the Occupy Wall Street protests have a point, but as for the upcoming Occupy Bay Street rally in Toronto -- not so much.
Speaking to reporters in Ottawa, Flaherty said American protesters are "legitimately frustrated" by the income gap levels between rich and poor and the high unemployment rate for youth.
But he said Canada's situation is different than the United States because of tougher financial laws and a more progressive taxation system.
"In Canada we have a progressive income tax and it favours people with lower incomes who are vulnerable, quite frankly, in Canadian society. Our tax system is clearly progressive," he said prior to flying to France for an important G20 meeting on the economy. "Having said that, I see a point that income distribution is important and that there is a concern that a very, very small group of people have very large incomes."
However, Canadian supporters of the movement rejected Flaherty's assertions.
"Canada has an income inequality rate that is growing faster than the American rate," Occupy Edmonton organizer Chelsea Taylor told The Canadian Press.
"In the past few decades in Canada, the top third of all wealth gains in income have gone to the richest one per cent in Canada."
The Occupy Wall Street movement has swept across the U.S. and is due to land in Toronto this weekend. U.S. protesters say too much of the wealth in their country is in the hands of the top one per cent, while the other 99 per cent struggles.
A crowd of protesters gathered again in a downtown Toronto parkette again Thursday evening to pin down how exactly the Toronto protest will unfold, as a few police officers looked on.
The group opted to make decisions by consensus, said protester Niko Salassidis.
"The organization is constantly evolving," he said. "It's not a matter of, ‘Oh, this is the plan. It's, ‘The plan is constantly changing.'"
What's known so far is that organizers have set Oct. 15 as the first day for the Toronto protest. But it's unclear where exactly it will take place or how long it might last.
Protests are also planned for Saturday in other Canadian cities such as Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Montreal and Halifax.
While the movement has seen its fair share of support from the usual suspects -- Hollywood heavyweights like Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins or outspoken rapper Kanye West -- it's also been backed by influential world players.
Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev said the protest movement is significant and justified.
"What we have to bear in mind is that there is a reason for such a protest," Gorbachev, 80, told high school students in a speech.
Billionaire George Soros, a harsh critic of the 2008 bank bailouts, said he is sympathetic to the cause, as has U.S. President Barack Obama.
There could be political hay to be made in supporting the movement.
A recent poll showed Americans support the Occupy Wall Street protest by a two-to-one ratio over the Tea Party.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Scott Lightfoot and files from The Canadian Press
