What a bite, I agree with getting out of -40 winters, just havnt worked out how Aus is so high up every canadians wishlist.. anyway was worth the bite, and the above info is true CX will not help with workpermits or visa's except for HKG base. People get around the issue via commuting ie living in Canada while on a US base, good if you are Canadian without greencard.
Temp bases are totally different you are still officially based in HK and get paid in HKD
Cheers
FK
from the real Godzone