@matthew_fitzy :
we did arrive together, we had been living in the UK and arrived here together, it was a very smooth process at customs surprisingly. we went up to the customs agent together, hardly said anything to me, looked at my boyfriend's paperwork then sent us to another room where they did some stuff on the computer, printed his work permit and welcomed him to Canada. they asked where we were coming from and were we going to be staying in Canada now, we both said yes.... at that time we hadn't applied for his PR yet, so we didn't mention it.
I don't think it would be a problem having your stuff going through customs in your wife's name, essentially i was "returning home" and my boyfriend was coming for a 2 year working holiday and that was not a problem at all.
good luck!!!