I've always felt that Canon develops cameras specifically aimed at very specific core markets. The 1D lineup was aimed at professional photographers/sports photographers, the 5D lineup was aimed at Wedding/Event photographers, and the 6 lineup was positioned as a capable yet more cost effective camera for consumers and cost-conscience pros. Canon repeated has talked about their market surveys and working with these types of groups. It is very much a ground up construction of a camera that fits those needs of those specific core markets and then people that do not fit those markets are left to decide which camera works best for them.
Notice how Sony wasn't part of that description? I do not think Canon is following Sony. Rather the migration to mirrorless is an eventual outcome based on the simple fact that mirrorless is a lower cost construction (more automation, less moving parts, removing of certain parts, etc). Sony was able to see this and jump to mirrorless quickly. Canon and Nikon both continued their historic products as long as possible and are transitioning. What Sony and Nikon/Canon are doing have, IMO, little to do with each other, and much more to do which where they were in the market in ~2012-2015: established vs new to market.
Unless that is their target market for a specific camera and the lower resolution satisfies that market. Wedding photographer Taylor Jackson just did a bit on the R3. He sort of transitioned from Nikon to the R6 but seems all in on the R3....his section on resolution is titled "24 MP is perfect for me".
I do not mean to make this bigger than it is, but this is one of those topics where a number of people feeling strongly about a topic does not mean that there is not another group that feels completely differently. It's all good. Maybe Canon misses the boat for one or two of those groups. That is ok, as long as they satisfy enough groups to be a viable business.
This is just speculation based on recent history, but Nikon and Sony seem to be the companies trying to go after the high MP FF stills market. Fuji and Hasselblad for MF. For Canon, I actually think the R5's 45 MP is more about doing 8K video than stills.