It appears to me that there is a preference by IRCC to prefer family applications over single applicants. I believe, this way they claim a lot of progress in increasing Canadian population through their hardwork.
Also, it appears there was a general preference to tackle paper based applications first over online applications. Why? Because it's easier to deal with an existing setup than to understand a new pilot project. That is called beurocracy.
For example, my friend applied as a single applicant through paper based application one month before me, i.e , in October. We are both from Pakistan with similar timelines, in fact, even same employer backhome. Interestingly, he was done with BGC and test almost two-to-three months ahead of me. But now we are in the same boat as I am done with test and BGC too, and waiting for next steps to proceed.
To conclude, being single means being at a relative disadvantage in this system as one gets to pay more tax while not getting any kind of monetary benefits.
But it's still very good. I am happy
Alhumdulillah.