Here are my two cents.
We pay around 500 CAD for this process and this really makes me question if the CIC spends so many man hours checking an application under a microscope. It's just sitting there and to make a decision means the officer had to spend sometime in which he can push maybe five "simpler" cases and claim his goodie bag.
My contact in Canada opines that inland candidates have it worse if they get stuck. As the government is already making use of their potential and taxes revenues what's the rush to give them pr and then pay for their social schemes etc.
So yes you can try all recommendations you can gather but imho CIC guys don't care. Why would they? Why would he wreck his brain to get an exemption for you when he can simply hide behind the wall of national_security argument and then maybe once he has some time process your application after months of delay in the name of security checks.
PS: I read an audit report on the net about CBSA checks and it notes, among other things, that for many student visas the CBSA didn't even wait the mandatory 10 days to get the CSIS results and simply marked the check completed.
So I guess you can just chill in the fresh air of Canada and it will happen sooner. Look at the bright side I say.
