Please post with extreme caution when addressing the Quebec point. Your post is overlooking or incorrectly stated the status of the cancelled applications. Quebec process was first come first served and I believe completely paper based. So, just like the Federal did about a decade or so ago, they cancelled unprocessed applications meaning the applications that were submitted but were completely untouched. They only cancelled those and kept the in progress applications (even if one task was ongoing or completed and no decision yet made). As per their law, like
@legalfalcon mentioned several times about this topic, Federal and province (Quebec) cannot cancel in progress applications.
So, all the outland applicants currently in progress cannot be just cancelled and decision must be made by either approving, cancelling (incomplete applications), refusing with a proper reason as per IRPA guideline.
I hope I explained it properly.
@nns14 You are correct. If an application is already in progress, it most likely will not be cancelled.
Also, to cancel any application submitted with IRCC, a law has to be passed either in the Parliament or the Provincial legislature, which will be done after much deliberation and is always controversial.
The reason why I say that applications for which the processing has commenced will not be cancelled is because of a legal doctrine called "legitimate expectation." Simply put it means that once an application is submitted and the processing commenced, there is an expectation that a decision on it will be released.
However, since"legitimate expectation" is nota statutory rule, instead it is a common law doctrine, it can be overturned by a law passed by the legislature. However, given that resources, funds and time has already been invested in processing applications, cancelling them just does not make sense, and this legislatures usually do not over turn any application for which processing has already commenced.
This was reflected in 2012, when Canadian Parliament under the Conservative government cancelled all PR application, except the ones for which the processing had commenced, and then brought express entry, which has been a success since then.
Since Provinces deal with much smaller volume of applications, they can frame more absurd laws, but unless a bill is tabled before the Parliament or the Provincial legislature, it will then have to be sent to a committee for deliberation and debate, it makes no sense to discuss it