UAE base eviction costing Canada $300 million, says source

Canadian Forces were kicked out of Camp Mirage after a dispute over Canadian landing rights for UAE airlines.

The UAE had been asking the Canadian government to approve six more flights for its state-backed airlines between the Arab country and Canadian airports. Ottawa refused, and as a result last week the UAE banned Canadian Forces from its Camp Mirage airbase, the intended midway point for our withdrawal from Afghanistan next year. Troops and equipment will now have to be rerouted through Cyprus and Germany, and the cost of uprooting from the UAE and the increased fuel needed to make longer flights through Europe will cost taxpayers $300 million, according to one senior Conservative source, a high price to pay for a relatively small dispute over commercial landing rights.