This article is full of crap... it suggested the reason for the reduced number of application was the fee, what a joke..
The only useful piece of information from this article is this
In 2015, a total of 130,000 citizenship applications were submitted to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, compared to an average of 200,000 received in previous years.
So in 2015, even with many people rushing to submit application in the first 6 months to avoid the new law, the total number of application is still 35% less than previous years
It would be interesting to see the monthly breakdown of application submitted, which would give a better picture
The reality is, with the current state of economy and weakening Canadian $, not so many people are as certain about staying in Canada as before.