You applied for TRV - and you are also spousal PR applicant? Could you please share when you applied, from where and if you already got it?
To apply for a TRV generally - yes AOR is not required.
As per CIC family reunion program, for spouses to get to Canada quickly, a PR application had to pass certain stages to be considered for quick TRV. but all those rules and policies seem to be discarded already - as for most TRV applicants, except a rare few, 60 day TRV processing timeline has passed. Hence, I dont think that now AOR, SA or anything matters. It seems CIC has shifted its focus and is processing applications faster - within 5-7months these days - and perhaps they are forgoing TRV requests and focusing on Spousal PRs - which is not a bad thing if they maintain Spousal PR processing timelines as 5-7months for most applicants.