And from my own experience, I recall hearing all of these and/or similar arguments in North America in the run-up to the US-Canada Open Skies agreement. I recall hearing all of these and/or similar arguments circa 2005 in Australia just before the "three amigos" started flying into Australia.

And now I'm hearing that Emirates will steal all the Canada-India traffic. Well so what? Air Canada is now just giving most of that traffic to other airlines, notably Jet Airways, in return for a skim off the top.

Here's a theory... why not negotiate with UAE and allow Air Canada ulimited rights to fly into and out UAE to other countries. That way they can compete directly with EK, purchasing cheap fuel in the Mid-east, and flying YYZ-DXB-DEL/BOM.

I keep hearing that competition is good for the consumer (just so long as that competition does not compete with the established players.) My experience has been that competition has almost always been good for the consumers, and anything that impedes or lessens that competition (whether it be taking over another airline, or Rogers buying Fido, or Home Depot running Beaver Lumber out of town) always -- always -- hurts the consumer, usually in big and dramatic ways.