Except that they did not knew that much what they were doing (specially first half of 2017). Why? Because 1 ITA does not equal 2 immigrants. There is the uncertainty about the family size, unique ITA (and not just those to the same person but also to the same family), then the cancellation and rejection rate and decline rate as well.
All they had were data from 2015 and 2016. and those data were distorted (too small sample from the beginning of EE where people were less informed and made more mistakes in their application, and also that big chunk of LMIA ITA which were most of the time trades).
Once they begun with increasing amount (second half of 2016 and first half of 2017), they thought to make a buffer (where they can slow down PPR release if needed). But they overdid it with that buffer a bit. So with a buffer there, there is no need for 2017 madness.
And with these numbers there might be even additional call for an ease down (as that buffer might be too big and they also have goal of 80% within 6 months).
The only good news is that there is bigger stability of the system, so it shall be easier to estimate required CRS.
The bad news is, that requred CRS will still go slightly up (because the pool of active EE profiles is still growing in a decent pace).
