HALIFAX—A Halifax councillor who was banned from standing committees for three months broke that suspension — but none of his colleagues realized he wasn’t supposed to participate in a meeting on Wednesday.

Council voted in February to remove Councillor Matt Whitman from all municipal committees, except for committee of the whole and budget committee. The vote was in response to public complaints filed against Whitman under councillors’ code of conduct.

There were 66 complaints filed against councillors at the time, and Whitman said the majority were against him after he retweeted a letter from a white nationalist group.

On Wednesday, Whitman went to a meeting of council’s audit and finance standing committee. It’s the only standing committee Whitman sits on, and thus the only one he was removed from for a period of three months, ending May 27.

Whitman spoke at the meeting, asking questions of CAO Jacques Dubé. It’s unclear whether he voted on any items, since councillors vote during committee meetings by show of hands, and often just by saying, “aye.”

When asked for an interview on why he went to Wednesday’s meeting, which included a presentation from the municipality’s auditor general on procurement, Whitman said via text message, “Because I have serious concerns about our procurement department.”

In a reply, StarMetro asked whether he was still banned from committees.

“I was never bandit (sic) from committees… You should check with the Clerks Office regarding what I can and cannot do,” Whitman replied.

The clerk’s office guidelines stipulated the councillor could attend meetings, but he wasn’t to be given the agenda materials, such as correspondence and handouts, and he wasn’t allowed to participate in debate or vote.

When asked about Whitman’s attendance, Mayor Mike Savage, who was also at the meeting, said any councillor is invited to come to any committee meeting. StarMetro asked if that includes councillors who’ve been removed from committees.

“Oh yeah,” Savage said. “I hadn’t thought about that.”

Asked if there were any consequences built into council’s removal of Whitman from committees, Savage said no.

“It’s not actually a particularly onerous ban, I don’t think,” he said. “It was more a symbol, a message that we sent, than the enforcement of it.”

Audit and finance standing committee chair Bill Karsten was tasked with overseeing Whitman’s participation in the committee.

“I accept full and complete responsibility. I did in fact err in my understanding of the guidelines that were overriding his suspension. So I screwed up, simple as that,” Karsten said.

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“There’s some responsibility, in my mind, on Matt to know what the dates of his suspension are, and what he can and cannot do,” he added.

Asked again for an interview later on Wednesday, Whitman didn’t respond.

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