The arguments that the Canada-UAE traffic is adequately served by the current 6 flights per week agreement is rather weak on so many points.
Firstly, if the market has to be proven to exist before frequencies are granted, how will new routes ever be established? Have AC never pioneered a new destination and grown a route themselves? (remember the movie: "Build it and they will come")
Another point that has already been stated is that if EK were to get additional frequencies then AC would see a drop in their transatlantic traffic due to them picking up fewer connections from the Subcontinent and Asia. Doesn't this same point-to-point argument suggest that if AC is picking up many connecting passengers in European ports, that it has too many Canada to Europe flights? How many passengers originate in the UK (for example) and are destined for Canada only? The point-to-point argument would not support UK-USA traffic via Canada. Who can determine using this argument which airline should fly international connecting passengers? If a passenger flew on Air India to the UK and then British Airways to YYZ have BA just "stolen" a passenger/revenue/jobs from Canada? Why haven't the Canadian Government been onto the UK CAA about this?
EK has over 10 flights per day to the UK and continues to expand there. Both BA and Virgin also fly to DXB, so competition is alive and well. As most of Emirates UK traffic is also heading further east, the consumer has the choice to fly LHR-DXB-BOM, or take AI, BA, Jet Airways etc... LHR-BOM direct. The customer wins.
If AC is convinced there is no YYZ-DXB traffic and are afraid of losing the Asian market they should offer passengers the choice of BOM-YYZ, KHI-YYZ or DEL-YYZ direct (they've got the 200LRs that could do it). They are unfortunately stuck with the Star Alliance and so will not offer the flights that passengers want so find it less risky to adopt an uncompetitive stance.
I think the response from the UAE regarding the Canadians using (or not) the UAE military base was despicable. I would not even try to defend this, nor would I try to suggest that any airline that would try to compete with a Canadian airline should somehow live up to a certain standard when it comes to unions/salaries/fares etc. I am sure that AC staff at the Caribbean and South American destinations are not protected and compensated by Canadian standards. I also believe that some routes charge more per ASM than others. It is often a case of supply and demand. To suggest that EK charges for YYZ-SYD should more resemble the AC fare could be referred to as price fixing.