I realize that, but the process was going really slowly until my wife appealed to the local MP and things sped up pretty quickly... at least 'quickly' for immigration.
We know people that were married that took years to get their paperwork through and they were also US->Canada.
We were coming in under the 'entrepreneurial' banner, about 750K invested in to the Canadian economy, 12" of paperwork including 5 years of bank statements for 3 companies and god knows what else.
The weird thing is that as long as we were still in Europe we were assured things would go fast, but after moving everything ground to a halt. Only to speed up again after we threw in the towel, but by then we really didn't feel like going back. We still have 2 100 acre farms and a skeleton business there (about to be wound down). A total waste of time and money, but the time spent there was quite enjoyable (even though the winters are terribly harsh).
That makes a huge difference actually.