Celebrating the 400th anniversary of its first settlement in Quebec City this year and the 250th anniversary of the birth of parliamentary democracy, Canada is on a mission to intensify its unique ties with Hong Kong and the mainland.
The mainland has been singled out as the 'top priority' for trade and investment efforts, enforcing a remarkable 'human bridge' across the Pacific crossed by close to a million Canadian residents of Chinese descent.
Canada's consulate estimates the number of expatriates and Hong Kong-born Canadians to be as high as 220,000 - slightly more than 3 per cent of the population. A recent survey found that 16 per cent of the Hong Kong population had either close relations or family in Canada. With a membership of 1,200, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong is also the country's largest overseas business organisation.
'It is a very dynamic and growing business community,' said Francois Rivest, Consul and Senior Trade Commissioner of the Canadian consulate in Hong Kong. More than 150 Canadian companies maintained branches or subsidiaries in Hong Kong, about a third with regional headquarters, he noted. These include Canada's biggest banks and such prominent insurance and wealth management institutions as Manulife, Sun Life and Crownlife.
Underlining Canada's developing information and communications technology industry, new generation phonemaker BlackBerry is among the newcomers to the fold. Even Canada's biggest international hit in the world of entertainment, Cirque du Soleil, is establishing a local presence, with the opening of its first permanent home outside of North America in Macau later this year.
According to the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, more than 6,000 Canadians a year join trade missions to Hong Kong. In the opposite direction, Hong Kong's investment in Canada is conservatively estimated at about US$6.5billion, with Cheung Kong (Holdings) and Hutchison Whampoa chairman Li Ka-shing probably the biggest spender of all through oil exploration giant Husky Energy and the recent acquisition of TransAlta Power.
Substantial Hong Kong property interests are being notably boosted by new Shangri-La hotels in Vancouver and Toronto. 'There will be a lot more investment in the near future,' Mr Rivest said.
