@GandiBaat I understand all of that, and I know the rules. My wife is a CEC candidate so I need to know all of this. I know that one does not have to have a job at the moment to be eligible, nor to be in Canada, nor to have acquired the job through their own effort. Still, it is true that so many (I believe majority) of CEC candidates got their jobs through their own effort. Also, while CEC is not just for those with Canadian education, this is a common way to become a CEC candidate.
But I went even further than this and say that many CEC candidates currently hold a skilled employment in Canada. I am not sure what the percentage is, but I know many people in this situation. And if CEC is suddenly NOC specific, that would make many of them ineligible for PR. CEC candidates have work permits that are valid only for a few years, typically, and it is not realistic for most of them to suddenly switch to a different employment. Especially since we are talking about skilled jobs. You cannot simply change a job if you do not have qualifications.
This situation would lead to many CEC candidates having to go back to their countries and leave their jobs. Which will create gaps in skilled employment that prospective immigrants cannot fill, because those are not specified in the NOC arrangement. So, only Canadians would be able to fill those jobs. Which can create a mess in many different ways.
I simply do not understand why someone working in Canada in a skilled job would be chased away, so to speak, without a chance for a PR. Let's also remember that Canada is an attractive destination for international students in part because of the PGWP and the possibility to get a PR that way. If this possibility is cut, then that's not good for the Canadian economy either.
Yes, I sound invested because I am in this situation but I wish that we had more transparency over how this whole system would look. I wish they told us. They are hinting that French skills would be important, so that might be another path, and we need to see about it. Perhaps there is something important in terms of CEC and international graduates.