CPR initiated an ocean-going service between the port of Vancouver and Victoria, BC and Hong Kong, with calls at Japan and China, and later at Manila, Philippine Islands and Honolulu, Hawaii.

[2] Low-cost labourers from southern China could travel from Hong Kong to Western Canada on the same route, eventually help building the Canadian Pacific Railway (between 1881 and 1885) [3] and Yukon in the 1890s for potential gold prospects.

Since the transfer to Chinese sovereignty, the governments of Canada and Hong Kong entered in to several other bilateral agreements.

[14] The Canadian Consulate General in the territory is among the largest foreign missions of Canada and larger than many Canadian embassies by number of staff and annual budget, and engages actively in the latest political development of the territory, including statements regarding suppression of human rights and press freedom, and open support in the form of posts and tweets towards the annual vigil to commemorate the June 4th Tian'anmen Massacre in 1989.

According to data from Tourism Industry Association of Canada, Canadian tourists in Hong Kong spent more than C$99 million in the year 2011.

The programme allows 200 young students to holiday in Hong Kong or Canada and to take temporary employment as needed to cover the expenses of their visit.

The programme aims to increase travel by young people between Canada and Hong Kong and to strengthen the links between the two regions.