On October 31, it was announced that the Israel PTO and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) had entered into a pilot PPH program. That's probably not so relevant for Canadian applicants filing in Israel: for years applicants have been able to gain allowance of their Israeli applications on the basis of the allowance of a corresponding case in Canada, in accordance with Section 17(c) of the Israel patents statute. While that's not quite the same as having an application jump to the front of the line, which is what the PPH does, it's almost as good, since a 17(c) request can reduce the period of substantive examination in Isarel to almost nothing.
For Israelis filing in Canada, though, the PPH procedure may be worthwhile. If your first filing worldwide is in Israel, the ILPTO will examine your application quickly, so you can get your case allowed early; and since you can delay national phase entry in Canada to 42 months, it's entirely conceivable that an Israeli applicant could file in Canada with the corresponding Israel patent application having been allowed.
What I found intriguing was that I only learned of this pilot PPH program via a Canadian associate. It seems that this news was posted clearly on the front page of CIPO's website on October 31 (see snapshot taken today).
The ILPTO's website, on the other hand, doesn't even list the new PPH program under its "news" headings: the most recent item on the "news" banner on the front page is from October 28 and concerns changes in US patent law:
When one clicks on the "news" tab on the front page, a list having a most recent entry of October 17 is what appears.
Playing with the search engine on the website, I eventually found this announcement regarding the new pilot PPH program.
It's nice to know that the Canadians appreciate Israel, even if the official Israeli response amounts to, "Take off, eh!"