from where i sit, you both are perfectly reasonable on this. this is an ongoing investigation. the public has been given no evidence or indication to the contrary. in fact, as noted, TPS has maintained its stance consistently throughout. until we are told otherwise, the investigation is still ongoing.
it doesn't help, however, that sloppy or lazy journalism serves to muddy the waters. for instance:
CBC (via the huffington post), 1 august: 'Project Brazen 2
was a months-long investigation triggered by reports of a video allegedly showing Ford smoking crack, included surveillance on land, from the air and interviews with a series of former Ford staffers, police have said.'
sun news network/QMI, 30 july: 'Ford — who was openly critical of Blair for
the ongoing Project Brazen 2 investigation that focused on him — declined to comment further and whether he supports the decision.'
toronto star, 1 august: 'Giroux has made no secret he
wants a chance to question the mayor in connection with an
ongoing investigation into his associates and the existence of a video showing Ford smoking what appears to be crack cocaine.'
G&M, 8 august: 'He's wrong. This is an
ongoing criminal investigation run by an extremely experienced, very persistent investigator. That’s what this is about. It has nothing to do with anything else.' (mark pugash, in response to dennis morris' claim that the mayor's imminent subpoena was politically motivated to upset his campaign.)
whether it is the long game or not is another question, but i'm hard-pressed to point to any other explanation.
that nonsense with the suspension of OPP oversight was a public relations cockup from the get-go, and has
never been satisfactorily explained in my reading. the only thing that still resonates from that confusing time is TPS' (i.e. giroux's) insistence that the investigation marches forward irrespectively.
the preponderance of evidence in TPS' possession suggests strongly that this is worth the time, the money and the intensive labour, and that they are in it for the long haul. if investigators have holes to fill, they'll wait. if they cannot fill those holes in time, we will hear of the investigation's closure.
giroux has consistently stated that his mandate is to investigate criminal activity involving the mayor and the mayor's office. i have always taken this to mean that the scope goes beyond the initial crack video and possible connections to anthony smith. giroux has also repeatedly made reference to simply following where the evidence leads -- or words to that effect.
in the meantime, march's trial date is a long, long way away. lots of time yet to pursue leads, observe behaviours, connect the pieces, and amp up the pressure on those who count most.