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OTTAWA—Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says he can understand the concerns of the thousands of Americans mounting Occupy Wall Street protests. The demonstrators are expressing “some legitimate frustration” over economic problems and high unemployment, he told reporters Thursday. “I see a point that income distribution is important and there is a concern that a very, very small group of people have very large incomes and that others do not have those same opportunities,” Flaherty added. The Occupy Wall Street movement, which is expected to be felt in Canada in large way on Saturday, began last month in New York’s financial district. The protest is focused on the huge salaries pocketed by elite executives amid widespread economic hardship and on Washington’s bailout of Wall Street financial houses whose risky investments helped cause the 2008-09 economic crisis. Asked about the spreading demonstrations, Flaherty said, “I think there is a reflection of some concern there of a lack of opportunity, which isn’t terribly surprising when you see the size of the youth unemployment rate,burberry outlet cheap particularly in the United States.” He said, however, that Canada has a progressive income tax system that “favours people with lower incomes who are vulnerable, quite frankly, in Canadian society.” And Flaherty said Canadian banks are carefully regulated. “We do not have a situation in this country,” he said, “of financial institutions that are not acting in a prudent and responsible way.” He told reporters that the best remedy for the income gap between the rich and the rest of society is to provide better economic opportunities. “It’s incumbent on governments, I think, to ensure there are opportunities for people to exercise their talents so that they can participate and be successful in the marketplace.” Flaherty, who will take part in a G20 finance ministers meeting in Paris this weekend, also urged European leaders to do more to develop a strategy to tackle the debt crisis on the continent. “It is critical that Europe deliver on a comprehensive package of measures that will address their sovereign debt and banking issue,” he told the media.