I did some rough calculations to see what the CC spend requirements are at the current earning levels among the "big 4" legacy NA airlines. I used a scenario of someone who currently qualifies for 50K or the equivalent tier organically and wants to spend on a premium CC to get them to the top tier status. (This would be me if it were possible, I go slightly out of my way right now to earn 75K and then get to SE with the Chase AP card).

AC: $250,000 to get the remaining 50,000 SQM. (Ignoring SQD requirements)
DL: $240,000 to get 18,000 more MQM
UA: $240,000 if you fly 60 segments, $320,000 otherwise.
AA: $113,000 /$213,000 for PPro/ExPlat
(All figures in CAD, using $0.75 FX rate)

So contrary to my assumptions going in, AC is already in the ball park for rewarding CC spend on a "$ spent to earn status level X" basis.

My guesses:
-SDC will be dollar based, along the lines of United or Delta, and the status tiers will roughly follow the current SQD numbers + a 25%/50% increase.
-Earnings on CC spend will increase a similar amount