Ontario uses a sliding-point system. You're given points for things like language skills, having a job offer, having previously lived in Canada, your educationa

Ontario uses a sliding-point system. You're given points for things like language skills, having a job offer, having previously lived in Canada, your educational degree (once verified), being healthy, and sometimes, just random points based on when you applied if they want more immigrants at the time. Then, you're on hold until your points pass the threshold - which adjusts based on how many people they want in. It's not really any less arbitrary, and doesn't reflect the real needs of the labor market: obviously a PhD earns more points than a bachelor's degree, but you need significantly fewer, which is the opposite of what happens under a sliding point system. And notably, while a job offer gets you points, it's not a guaranteed entry, so businesses can't actually reliably sponsor anyone. Other systems have their cons too, and a lottery is really quite reasonable.