Hi,
Sorry for the extremely late reply! Hopefully you will still see this. My situation is as follows:
My 4 year limit is on February 2015. I'm in Montreal. As of right now I have not applied for either my CSQ or my PR because I want to first improve my French. Cutting it close, I know. I only made the decision to stay during the summer. I read on the website that you don't get implied status if your work permit expires while you are waiting for an answer, so that would mean I would have to apply for another work permit....but I'm at my four year limit