Currently, the path to permanent residency is the express entry system. The express entry system has a lot of categories where you can get more points or fewer points, but it has a couple of absolute categories, and one is language. It doesn't matter if you have three Ph.D.s and you're working at a job making a million dollars a year. If you don't hit 6 on all four levels of IELTS, you're not approved; you lose.
On February 27th, 2019. See this statement in context.