Alright guys, so an update.
IRCC received my application on Dec 7th 2017. Since then it has been 57 business days since my application was received and still no AOR. Most of my peers who I had contact with that were around the same date had already received AOR and Dec teens were starting to get AOR now.
I called IRCC and they told me that based on the most recent update, they are currently still working on Nov 21st applications. Umm, what? They've been saying that for 2 weeks now, and everyone getting AOR in December tells me otherwise. I ask if she can check to see if there is any information on my application, and I verify security details as well as gave her my UCI# that I received from a Visitor extension application before submitting the application. She checked the details and found that they did indeed receive my application on Dec 7th but that because they were still on Nov 21st, that it would still be a little while longer. I thanked her, and we hung up.
Not even 1 minute later, I see an unread message in my email and what do you know? It's my AOR! So I'm thinking that if its been 55 days and everyone else around the same date as you has received AOR, it may be time to give them a call. But if it hasn't been atleast 55 business days, don't bother cause they likely have not gotten to your application yet. My theory is that they did indeed send out the AOR email, but that it somehow gets stuck, and having IRCC check on the application somehow makes it unstuck.
Anyway, for clarity:
App received: Dec 7 2017
AOR1: Feb 2 2018