I'm trying to fill out a joint return, but I want to first enter my information, then my spouse, but the tool seems to insist on entering the information together.

Yes, that's the way TurboTax flows, back and forth between the two people, topic by topic.

If you'd prefer not to, simply skip anything you don't want to enter. You can always use the navigation menu or Find button (in the upper right) to jump back to the parts for your spouse later.

Yes, I kind of figured that out, but I was hoping there was another way.  It would be much more convenient for me to enter just my information; then later my spouse can enter hers.  I would expect that's common for households where both spouses work.

I actually got stuck on the page to download slips from the CRA.  Until I explicitly told it I didn't want to (for my spouse), any time I tried to navigate somewhere else it would always take me back to the same page.

Btw, my first attempt to post a response appears to have been lost because it asked me to sign in after I posted, but then seems to have not saved what I posted (or it failed to show me that my message had actually been sent).