Applied mid October 2007. Received acknowledgment yesterday - with a covering letter informing me that processing would take between 12 and 15 months from the date of covering letter (Jan 2008), and in certain circumstances may take even longer. My own application is fairly straight forward and included all of the relevent documentation etc.

Are they under resourced - or do the Federal Gov't see this particular aspect of its remit as a low priority?

Had hoped to be able to vote in the next Federal election however seems unlikely now.

Its just a low priority I think.

If it was a liberal government rumour has it they speed things up leading into an election to get as many immigrant votes as possible. Might work the other way round with a conservative incumbent

I sent in my application in October too and haven't received an acknowledgment yet. Mine is also very straight forward. We plan to move back to the UK in September so I was taking a chance when I sent in the application that I may not get Citizenship before I leave.

Well in my case, Mr Harper has lost a potential vote

Didn't happen before the last federal election.

Part of the reason is that in 2001-03 there was a significant increase in applications because of the introduction of the PR Card and new U.S. visa rules, and they have basically never put the extra resource into the system to clear the backlog.

But this is the same government(s) that has allowed the skilled immigration queue to reach 5 years, either through intent or inaction.

Two friends put their applications in last year, one in June one in July. Both have already completed the process and are now Canadians. When they applied, the website said the same thing, 12 - 15 months waiting, but it was all done and dusted in six months.

Mine took 4 months and that was in Ontario.

I was also quoted 12-15 months

I just received my acknowledgment letter this morning (dated January 15th) so fingers crossed it doesn't take as long as 15 months.