Luckily these students still have lots of options. They just wanted to apply for PR directly from their PhD and not have to do PGWP and apply. They will still qualify for PR but it will likely take 1 year of work for them to do it. If one speaks French she may qualify through the normal Arima.
process. They also have to option of leaving Quebec. This is not the end of the world. They will get PR but maybe slightly delayed.