I disagree, completely. Apart from Canadian citizens, no one is entitled to anything from the Canadian government agencies for free.
I strongly believe that IRCC should ask for all the documents in electronic format and the CAD 490 in fees, in advance and only then should an ITA be issued. The original documents can be sent after the ITA by post. This will make the entire process transparent because there will only be ITA eligible candidates and the cutoff score will not be so high.
Today, any Tom, Dick and Harry with a 3-4 year’s bachelors, 3 years of experience and CLB 10 can get a score of 441 and an ITA but they are just “exploring” their options and are not serious enough.
The serious candidates, the ones who really want the ITA, are losing points due to age eventually.