It's paid, few or too much it's the official price. And the cost of a good lawyer for sponsorship application goes between 4.000-6.000$ plus taxes, plus translations if needed, plus administrative fees(there are lawyers less and more expensives. Althought it's not obligatory to hire one, it's very advisable), and the taxes of it goes to the government. Believe me they don't lose with it. People who think they are doing us a favor, it's not a favor. Just imagine that the delay lasts more and more and I ask my husband (who is canadian and my sponsor) to close his enterprise, to fire his employees and to make a new business in other country. Wouldn't it be a loss to Canada?
The thing of the patients with cancer it's a tragedy for them. The hospitals didn't make those surgeries because they needed empty beds to hospitalize patients with covid, but at the end (and fortunately) in Canada these beds were never full occupied with cases of covid. 10 times more people will die of cancer this year than of covid in Canada, also there was the excuse that if one of these patients was infected with covid without knowing it, it would increase the complications, but the tests detect the infection, so it's avoidable. Those 2-3 months costed them a change of a surgical stage to a non-surgical one to some patients and progression of the illness, even metastases to others. And not talking about other illness, just that because you chose it like example.
So, to back up applications delays with cancer surgeries delays doesn't mean the cancer surgeries delays were a right action.. Other topic, there are 4 months of sponsorship application delays and nobody knows when they will start to work. And it's an office job, not a direct-contact job. In a country where the gyms (weights and machines that everybody touch), restaurants and bars are opened.
About visitor visa applications, Canada recognizes the family reunification during this time, so they made the special consideration in the purpose of visit of the visitor visas (written in the official page) with the immediate families. Just hoping they really do it. If they don't process these visitor visas in this time why did they lose their time making those considerations then? It doesn't have sense. So, we insist.