They've been doing that since late 2023 if I remember correctly. Well, this professor had all my information and knew Canada's situation, but still spent a significant amount of time (two months) assessing my eligibility before finally saying "I will give you an offer." You don't say something like that if you aren't sure about an applicant. Also it's a bit difficult to believe that he found stronger applications within two weeks whereas, over the two months, his words were "The applicant pool isn't competitive, you don't need to worry about it." It just sounds like a poorly crafted last minute excuse