Hi, briefly in response to your message:1. For comparison you can take a very similar system - refugee application. Same like in H&C you are not applying because of your language, education or work experience. You are applying because of "reasons".
And same like H&C, there is no limit how many applications can be accepted (not approved) per year. But same like for H&C there is a limit how many people will be approved.
The hearing times and approvals used to be within 1 year or even shorter. That is no longer the case. People can easily wait 2 - 3 years and another 2 - 3 years for PR itself.
And some rejected applicants do enter the H&C.
Now imagine that yearly amount of applications will be increasing. It will create following effects:
1. The waiting time will be longer and longer.
2. The situation will be more visible to the large public.
3. In a long term there will we desire to change the whole system and the change might not be for better for applicants.
H&C is much more subtle but in a way overloads resources that are meant for other services.
And yes you are right you can be selfish just like everybody else, just too much of overuse one system might trigger certain changes. (see Ontario elections as an example).
Technically any system admitting other citizens to Canada can go as long as there is a political setup for it.
In case of parents and grand parents, flocking towards it might end up in certain adjustment and different conditions.
And I would see it more like a promo activity rather than anything else, but also a promo activity does have its limits.
When it comes to USA they do have the same thing Canada had before - a system where anybody can apply for a family sponsorship. but they will be waiting in an endless and ever growing queue. (10 + years is nothing exceptional there).
1. H&C has experienced huge inventories of unprocessed H&C applications in the past - see Vegreville - "Operation Detour" where they farmed out the work to local CICs (that are mostly gone now). Vegreville was supposed to solve the increase in these and visitors, workers and students applications.
2. The general public is usually divided down the middle with immigration issues - that seldom changes no matter what's going on.
3. They again changed the system to deal with these and they greatly improved their processing numbers thanks to the PRRA backlog reduction that also dealt with corresponding PRRAs - the system was changed and will change again and again and again
What you describe as "selfish" is someone accessing a process that the rules permit them to apply for? A promo? - you lost me there. H&C used to be just policy and in IRPA it was promoted into the Act under 25(1). It won't be leaving anytime soon now that the Minister can order an approval, I don't imagine.
If you wish to compare the IRB with the Ministry it is a false comparison on a variety of fronts - the levels of decision-makers, management of their inventories, thresholds of decision-making and even the locations of their offices alter what can be achieved. Not to mention the will to introduce processing efficiencies.
I suppose that I could have been briefer, but the constraints, considerations and health of the Department to do the work that people are permitted to access should not effect a person's decision to apply for H&C. They need to consider if they may succeed and they need good counsel.