Ottawa: The UAE-Canadian relations have reached their lowest point ever after Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper launched a vitriolic attack on the UAE few days ago.

The UAE deserves an apology from the Canadian Prime Minister, senior UAE officials say.

Gulf News has learnt the UAE officials also expressed their disappointment and anger with Canada in strong diplomatic terms after it was reported that Harper likened the UAE's introduction of visas for Canadians and its ending of a lease arrangement at Camp Mirage for Canadian forces fighting in Afghanistan to blackmail.

Harper also hinted that the UAE was soft on terrorism, a claim that has infuriated UAE officials at all levels.

The central issue is a request from Emirates and Etihad for more landing slots and more Canadian destinations. That request has gone unanswered for four years, and both UAE airlines are limited to just three slots each per week in Toronto. The airlines would like more access plus be able to fly to Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver.

UAE furious

Gulf News has learnt that the UAE government is furious over Harper's attack and relations between two nations are extremely strained.

Gulf News can report that the UAE government is seething that it has been perceived as kicking Canada out of Camp Mirage near Dubai.

The reality is that Canadian forces and the UAE government has signed a memorandum of understanding which ran out in June, allowing Canada free access to the logistics facility at the base. When the MoU ran out, UAE officials extended it by three months to September. Canada was then given a one-month's grace period to leave the base, which it did.

Gulf News has also learnt that an incident in November, in which Canada's Defence Minister, Peter MacKay, was refused permission to land in Dubai arose because Canada had failed to comply with diplomatic protocols.

As the Canadians were no longer operating a military base in the UAE, convention dictates that a military aircraft would require pre-authorisation to land.

When the request for pre-authorisation did not arrive, UAE officials told MacKay that he would be unable to land. That incident was portrayed in Canada's media as the UAE kicking MacKay out.

What is particularly hurtful, senior UAE officials say, is that hundreds of injured Canadian soldiers have been treated free of charge at UAE military hospital facilities. Severely wounded soldiers are stabilised at the military medical facilities before being reunited with their families in Canada.

Gulf News has also learnt that the UAE played a key role in assisting Canada's efforts to free three hostages taken in Baghdad. Without the UAE's help, the three would likely have been killed.

UAE government officials are at a loss as to why its efforts in assisting Canada in this case and also by providing medical and logistical support to Canadian troops are being disregarded and forgotten.

Gulf News has also learnt that the request for more landing slots has been met with complete derision as Ottawa is determined to protect its legacy carrier, Air Canada.

This writer can report that Canadian officials did offer to increase the number of flights from three to four, but that increase was tied to restricting the size of plane, meaning, in effect, an overall reduction in the number of seats available.

With cargo demand and seat loads at levels reaching 100 per cent capacity, the need for more flights is pressing.

Offence

Gulf News has learnt that UAE officials take offence at the assertion that more flights will hit jobs of Canadian employees.

"The Emirates and Etihad flights keep many people employed in Toronto," one senior official told Gulf News.

"When the Emirates Airbus A380 touched down, it was a Canadian pilot at the controls. The first Etihad flight was crewed by Canadians. The UAE airlines are providing jobs for skilled Canadians and others from all around the world. Who is buying the houses in Emirates Springs, it's Emirates' and Etihad's employees from around the world."

In two years since arriving in Ottawa, the UAE's Ambassador, Mohammad Abdullah Al Ghafli, has yet to meet with Canada's Foreign Affair's Minister, Lawrence Cannon.

The irony is that Al Ghafli's office is just 200 metres from Cannon's office building in Ottawa.

"Cannon only meets with a select group of ambassadors," a senior official told Gulf News.

UAE officials believe that the relationship has been poisoned by Harper's personal views, his vindictiveness and his inability to reach out to a long-standing ally in the Middle East.

"It will take at least ten years for the relationship to be rebuilt," one senior official told Gulf News.

In terms of the visa requirements, Canadians are now required to obtain a visit visa before entering the UAE.

It is, however, much more difficult for UAE nationals to obtain a Canadian visa.

"They even want to know the name of your grandmother," one official said.

"It takes weeks for a Canadian visa to be processed. Trust me, UAE nationals are not applying for visas to live in Canada. They simply want to come for business."

Rejection

Gulf News can report that even if UAE nationals obtain a visit visa, they are subject to rejection at Canadian entry points. In the past two years, three UAE nationals have been turned back by immigration staff even though their visas were in order.

This writer has also learnt that UAE officials are frustrated with Ottawa's inaction on helping take action against Canadian absconders from the UAE who owe UAE banks millions of dirhams, which now cannot be collected.

‘No way to treat allies’

In an interview on Friday with Canadian news agency QMI, Canadian Prime Minister Harper said: "That's not how you treat allies, and I think [this] tells us you better pick your friends pretty carefully in the future. I could never see [Canada] treating an ally like that.

"Could you imagine if after 9/11 the Americans had come to the Canadian government and said ‘We need help to do with something to do with security' [and we said] ‘Well only if you do something on Buy America.' I mean, give me a break." The Canadian Prime Minister continued: "When we, as a country, offer to be part of an international mission to help protect global security, then somebody comes along and uses that to try and leverage demands on our domestic airline industry, I don't think that's a situation we, as a country, want to be in," he added in the interview.

He went on to say: "What this teaches us in future and when we're looking at other options is, don't get in a place where somebody's going to try and use it to leverage some unrelated issue."

Timeline

05/01/2011

Dan McTeague, the Liberal Party critic on Foreign and Consular Affairs, said that the blame for the UAE’s imposition of visas for all Canadian visitors lies squarely with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

02/01/2011

UAE’s Ambassador to Canada, Mohammad Abdullah Al Ghafli, has been unable to get a face-to-face meeting for the past three months with Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Lawrence Cannon.

01/01/2011

Calgary Herald launches a bitter and vitriolic attack on the UAE for its decision to impose visit visa regulations on Canadians.

27/11/2010

UAE’s Minister of Economy Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri says that Canada need not fear job losses if it grants UAE airlines additional flights because this could contribute $60 million annually to the Canadian economy.

18/11/2010

Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay says that the UAE should have been granted more routes for its national carriers in exchange for use of military base.

09/11/2010

UAE imposes new visa regulations on Canadian citizens who come to the UAE for business. As of January 2, Canadian citizens who wish to visit the UAE will have to obtain a pre-arranged visa.

14/10/2010

Official source announces UAE lobbied against Canada’s bid to win a seat on the United Nations Security Council because of its anti-Arab policies.

11/10/2010

Canadians barred from military base, a crucial link in the supply line for its mission in Afghanistan.

10/10/2010

UAE is disappointed that despite intensive negotiations over the last five years the UAE and Canada have been unable to arrive at an agreement on expanding the number of flights between the two countries.