Are you buying it as sole proprietors, or within an LLC? If it's an LLC set your spouse up with Class B shares, and every once in awhile the directors can decide to distribute dividends to CLass B (or A, or whatever) shareholders.
If your spouse 'does the work' on the property - and you carefully document all the many hours said spouse does relatiing to the property, I see no reason for your spouse not to claim the income. The key is documentation.
I am a full time property owner, and my wife works elsewhere. Once in awhile she comes by and helps with some work - painting, drywall whatever. We always record the time, date and amount she worked, for two reasons:
1. It gives us legal justification to pay her, in the event that makes sense tax wise.
2. It provides legal justification to divide the capital gains when we sell, which definitely makes sense tax wise.
If you want to pay your spouse, CRA will ask for proof that your spouse worked on the property and that you aren't just sprinkling to avoid taxes. As long as you aren't idiots in how you claim the work (i.e. claiming hours while on vacation or while spouse is working 100 hours somewhere else), CRA won't have much ability to dispute your records. The fact that you have records will protect you.
