what a neoliberal economist is, only Richard Bridge knows; I am an Alberta Conservative in politics.

The Canadian Embassy-Trade Commissioner efforts are being undercut by short-sighted policies.
The UAE (esp. Abu Dhabi) is ranked no. 3 after Saudi Arabia and Iraq in terms of oil reserves and no. 4 in terms of natural gas reserves.
The Canadian Embassy has been pushing programs in oil and gas, chemicals, electric power equipment, metals, plastics, defence and aerospace industries, education and other fields. Abu Dhabi is a major world economic center.

The Consumers Assn. of Canada has condemned the Ottawa action, saying allowing Emirates carriers to expand in Canada would be beneficial to consumers.
"We are talking about a destination to which Air Canada does not even fly (directly)," said Mr. Cran, adding that there is no reason for Canadian consumers to be forced to give preference to Air Canada's Star Alliance carriers, which operate competing routes through Europe.
Calgary especially needs through flights to Dubai because of its business ties in the petroleum industry, and educational programs at the University of Calgary campus in Dubai.

There is no question that Emirates airlines offer much better service to businessmen than Air Canada, with more services and comfort. There are now 27,000 Canadians in the Emirates (mostly Dubai), an important middle class workforce. It could be threatened by Ottawa's attempts to protect an airline that is falling behind premier servers abroad, and does not even offer through service to the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries except limited service to Israel.