AC wants open sky when it suits them only...
LHR Rain,
Disagree with you! I came from Air Canada and work for EK. Best move of my life... I quit after the merger mess with CAI (I am former AC, not CAI) which screwed me out of my seniority and career progression forever at AC. And I was not junior. That is in fact why I left. Pilots are too busy there fighting each other to see what is going on elsewhere. Can't trust the unions, sorry!
Competition with subsidized carrier? Nope... What about AC paying for the housing and utility bills for all of its employees? There is no way they would survive. Yet EK, EY and the likes do that, so it levels the playing field somewhat if you are worried about that. I agree with others: competition is not about being fair... It's about competing using every advantage you have.
What about the AC business model, pre-merger with Canadian, of flooding the USA with multiple direct routes using RJ's everywhere and to squeeze every other airline in Canada to keep / increase their monopoly? I was there when it was going on... They are doing it to Porter right now! Since when AC wants to fly out of Toronto Island? Come on... Leave me alone with open sky and fair competition. AC doesn't even fly to the Middle East...
I'll stop here...