The story in a nutshell:

"Despite heavy lobbying, the UAE has so far failed to convince Canada to allow its two major airlines, Dubai-based carrier Emirates and Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways, to increase flights to the country.

Emirates has been lobbying Ottawa to allow it to expand its three-day-a-week Dubai-Toronto service. It also wants to fly to Calgary and Vancouver.

The dispute escalated last month when the UAE ordered Canada to vacate a military base near Dubai which was used as a staging post for Canadian forces in Afghanistan.

UAE's efforts to gain more landing rights in Canada has been fiercely criticized by Air Canada, which has accused the Mideast airlines of wanting to steal away connecting passengers that help make its routes profitable.

Allowing a foreign carrier like Emirates to take some of the most profitable connection traffic could have an impact on Air Canada's ability to maintain its domestic service, threatening jobs, the Canadian Labor Congress said Monday.

The union group represents 3.2 million Canadian workers."