Not sure that H&C cases for parents have a great success rate. Unfortunately many have decided that they will try an H&C application if they don't get selected for PGP. The government has created programs especially for parents so people are expected to use them. In the case that all the children move away from a parent it isn't a surprise that the parent is alone. It is something that the family had to consider when deciding all immigrate to various countries and that will be one of the government's arguments. H&C approval rates are not great to begin with.
I am not sure about approval rates for parents either, however I am certain that if the Government offers programs such as H&C then they aren't resenting people who apply for this consideration.
Outland, yes the H&C statistics aren't likely to register any positive decisions, inland is a very different matter and one where I know the stat's have been posted on this site and where they demonstrate that application decisions may not be so lopsided - 40 percent plus approvals. If you have other stat's then please, let's finally see them because I know that I have posted these in an earlier thread that you were following.
Maybe you see governmental programs differently than the government does, but simply because they have tailored processes for parents this doesn't exclude them from applying for H&C at all, doesn't come with caveats excluding parents and was established under the Act prior to IRPA where widowed parents were common, and the H&C process was not only maintained but inarguably strengthened by moving H&C from policy into the IRPA itself.
The government is pretty good at dissuading applications through exclusions of classes of people, but there isn't one here and there's no reason for anyone to resist making any application that the department invites, considers and decides. If they didn't want them then they shouldn't offer them.
To say that it is "unfortunate" that people look to access what is offered - why is this unfortunate, and for who?