I would also be frustrated if people that had applied after me received their stage 1 before me, especially knowing CIC policy. Having said that, I think the Feb-May 2012 period had a number of circumstances that conspired to delay some of those applications. From my understanding they are as follows:
1) The Buffalo office was closed
2) Parents and Grandparents visa timelines were getting significantly longer and some resources were diverted to reduce this timeline.
3) CIC have changed certain forms in February and this change has caused many delays in processing as applications have been returned as incomplete.
My understanding is that the Ottawa office was provided with some May and June applications to deal with the backlog. CPC-M continued with April and May apps. This may explain why some June applications received AOR's before April/May. I think I saw one June AOR in 39 days from memory. So I think this was an abberation in processing but will be corrected. Those applications that received their AOR's between 39-55 days were indeed fortunate.
The real question is why did Canada get only one GOLD medal?