There has been a paradigm shift in skilled worker selection. Don't forget that today, the provinces do the heavy lifting. More than 50% of today's skilled workers are selected by the provinces. After all, section 95 of the Constitution Act equally shares jurisdiction federally and provincially in the spheres of agriculture and immigration. So there is wiggle room in this situation of having a backlog of 284,000 applications.
It is possible to give people the freedom of choice. Why not have a 2,000 to 3,000 target per year available to backlog people? Let them stay in for 20 or 30 years, if that's their desire, but process 2,000 to 3,000 a year. The ones who have it should find another way to Canada, such as temporary status or another skilled worker category. But you can dodge the balloon in its entirety by not dumping the entire backlog. Give those people the right to choose to sit for 20 or 25 years, if that's their choice, or to take back their money and find other options.