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He said the country’s tax system, universal health care, bank regulations and social assistance regime made the economic realities in Canada different than that of the United States.

“We don’t have that degree of economic inequality in Canada,” he said.

Occupy Toronto, designed to run in concert with similar protests in New York and around the world, began Saturday morning with a short march along Bay Street in the heart of the city’s financial district. It ended at the nearby park, which was converted over the course of the afternoon into a massive communal campsite, though only a small number of participants had set up overnight tents.

As protests go, this one was shaping up not as a blaze, but a slow-cooker: Protesters spent much of the afternoon finding their footing in the “occupation zone” and organizing logistical details, such as food and medical aid stations.

Though the overarching theme of the movement is anger at the state of global finance, participants brandished signs to protest everything from “corporate greed” to the official narrative of 9/11 to a controversial mega-quarry northwest of Toronto.

Spontaneous chants of “we are the 99%” broke out, a reference meant to distinguish protesters from “the elite 1%” who control global wealth.

Sid Ryan, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, was on hand to endorse the movement.

“Most of the issues they’re complaining about, we’ve been fighting them for decades,” Mr. Ryan said, citing high unemployment, bank bailouts and the rising debt load for post-secondary students.