Americas

Americas

Hundreds in Ottawa join global occupy protests

16 October 2011 04:01 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. About 300 university students, trade unionists and protesters angry at the political and economic systems in the West began on Saturday a protest at a city park in downtown Ottawa near the Canadian parliament building, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Organizers of the event spent hours trying to get consensus from the small crowd on whether to stay in the park and set up a camp. Many people simply milled around, speaking to each other and reading picket signs.

Most protesters were there to demand higher taxes for the wealthy and curbs on banks, but there were also animal rights activists, people claiming the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the U.S. were an "inside job," and homeless people who normally live in the park.

One of the demonstration’s leaders was Brigette DePape, a former page in Canada’s Senate who was fired on June 3 for protesting on the floor of Canada’s upper legislative house during a speech delivered by the Governor General.

Police presence was minimal, with a few officers on foot and bicycles. A larger contingent of police waited out of sight a few blocks away in case the protest became violent.

Del Dickson, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service, said he joined the rally "because I believe we have to stand up as a group. I believe that the government is not looking out for the workers."

"Workers are having rights stripped away," he said. "We’re not trying to get on top of anybody but they (government) are dragging us down."

Some of the older protesters said they were happy that young people had become engaged in political action.

"I’ve waited a long time for youth to become involved," said musician Kurt Walther. "Now they are finally showing signs of ending their complacency."

The Canadian government has taken a tolerant view of the " occupy" movement in Canada. In recent days, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney have said they understand the frustrations of youths facing difficult job prospects.

On Thursday, Flaherty said "I can understand some legitimate frustration arising" out of high unemployment and an increasingly unequal distribution of income.

"Having said that, I see a point that income distribution is important and there’s a concern that a very, very small group of people have very large incomes and that others do not have those same opportunities.

"It’s incumbent on governments to ensure that there are opportunities for people to exercise their talents."

Flaherty said Canada’s tax system has been an effective way of narrowing disparities between high income earners and the poor.

On Friday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada’s banking system withstood the financial crisis of 2008 and Canada has a fairly strong economy.

"I think Canadians understand that Canada has performed very well during the global economic recession. We’ve managed to create more growth and more jobs than just about any other industrialized country," Harper told reporters at a media conference in the small Ontario city of Peterborough.

"We’re extremely focused on the needs of Canadians and the needs of the middle class, and we obviously have a very different situation here where, you know, we didn’t bail out our banking sector. Our banking sector is the strongest in the world," Harper said.

"So you know, I think Canadians understand that we have a very different situation than the United States," he added.

Protests occurred Saturday in at least 15 Canadian cities, including Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City and St. John’s. The largest was in Vancouver, where about 1, 000 people turned out. In Toronto, protesters vowed to camp in a park near the financial district for the entire winter.

Canada’s Occupy protests are part of the global day of marches and sit-ins which are inspired by the grassroots Occupy Wall Street movement in New York City of the United States, which began weeks ago and continues with protesters occupying Lower Manhattan’ s Zuccotti Park for nearly a month now to protest over corporate greed and financial inequality.