That does make sense. Good points. Thanks.
In the first situation you did know there was going to be a large income in the near future.
But the second situation is kind of a gamble. I always tell my clients my crystal ball is in the shop. 
You don’t know what your life expectancy is. If something happens and they both pass a way you might pay 30 to 40% tax on RRSP you didn’t get a tax deduction for.
Not really, you would deduct the remaining contributions against the RRSP income.
Good catch @helga_spence. Yes, I do use the gender coding (call me old-fashioned). I was just looking at the tax return of a woman when I posted. I didn’t mean to say you put it on the spouse’s return. Haha.
I did not think of that. Thanks. So this actually is a good strategy! This is why I love this forum 
Also if the annuitant spouse has enough taxable income taking the deduction on the contributer spouse can allow more personal credits to transfer to the annuitant spouse. Essentially kind of transferring the deduction albeit in the lowest tax bracket.