Nolimit,
It was you who brought up fatigue, saying it was a reason Canada shouldn't increase EKs rights. My point was, if that was the case, they should ALSO not allow US regionals, or flights from many parts of Europe, as they have far worse FTLs than EK. I agree it's a non issue- but it's one you brought up!!
There was only ever going to be a small percentage of the Canadian population traveling on Emirates or any airline. Why should the fact that are largely of one ethnic grouping decrease the percieved advantage of giving them access to a better service? Would it be fair to curtail services to, say, Germany, because most of the Canadians utilising the service are of German origin? It is a service that benefits Canadians, so that is a plus for Canada.
Err- you may not quite understand the concept of "Zero-sum". In this context it means that the business Emirates attracts does not necessarily come from depleting Canadian operators of their current market as it will stimulate more customers. I'm not naieve enough to think it would have no imopact on Air Canada, but the suggestion was that ALL the trafic emirates would get would be at the expense of other operators (i.e a fixed amount of market- therefore zero sum)
As to "Extortionist tactics" well, firstly it's not EK but rather the UAE government that is putting the pressure on Canada. Trade agreements are very often linked to defense deals and no end of other political machinations.
But then, you're not interested in the economics- you'd just like to see it stuck to EK- Thus missing a chance to increase growth and profits, putting upward pressure on our pay and conditions and speeding promotion for the FOs.
That doesn't realy help, does it?