That about sums it up...the bottom line is EK does not compete with AC on a level playing field. EK can hire most of it's employees for dirt cheap wages, no unions or labor laws to worry about and Dubai charges no landing fees.
Saltaire if you are seriously comparing Toronto to Dubai then you have been spending too much time in the sun. There aren't any canadians that i know over there that wouldn't give their left nut to be based in YYZ over DXB any day. Have you actually lived in either of those two cities past the honeymoon period?
If EK had to abide by the same employment standards that AC does then by all means lets open it up and have them compete. But since that isn't going to happen then no to EK. Air Canada "sitting on it's union ass" is a hell of a lot better alternative than employing people in canada under UAE labor standards. There is a lot of subcontinent traffic flowing through LHR on AC that would soon be on EK if canadian skies were to open up and that would move aviation jobs overseas. End of story.