A friend(Her husband works for CIC) of mine told me today, CIC had about half a million extra applicant during October and November and they put aside about 1/3 applications and those will be processed within 36 months. They somehow tried to reach 80% goal for last quarter of 2017. CIC outsourced some company to finish those applications for the first time and that company is making sure none of the bad applicant gets the citizenship. They are just trying to build a reputation with CIC. But their goal to finish those extra applicants within 24-36 months . Liberal also using some stats about the voting geography and finishing some first based on their voting predictions.