Turfed Tory Casey to be Nova Scotia's chief lobbyist in Ottawa

Longtime Nova Scotia MP Bill Casey, who was ejected from the federal Conservative caucus nearly two years ago in the wake of an offshore revenue dispute, has been given a new job representing his home province in Ottawa.

Premier Rodney MacDonald made the announcement on Tuesday, saying Casey, 64, will be the provincial Department of Intergovernmental Affairs' senior representative in the national capital.

'Those should be interesting conversations that take place between our federal representative and the prime minister.' — N.S. Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil

Though Casey has a fractured relationship with the Stephen Harper government, MacDonald said the MP's experience on Parliament Hill would help Nova Scotia get things done at the federal level.

"I'm not going to speak for anyone else other than my own government, and as for our government, we look forward to having Mr. Casey on board and I believe he'll be an effective voice with Ottawa," MacDonald told reporters in Halifax.

Earlier in the day, Casey resigned his seat in the House of Commons to take on his new role, which starts Friday.

He was quick with a joke when asked about the $140,000 job and his relationship with Harper.

"Stephen who?" Casey said with a laugh. "In this role, I don't deal with Stephen Harper and it doesn't matter if it's a good relationship or bad relationship, and I don't even know what it is. It's not much of a relationship really, but I just won't be dealing with him."

MacDonald said the federal government found out about his choice on Tuesday.

In the October 2008 federal election, Casey was re-elected as the MP for Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley, but as an Independent rather than a member of Prime Minister Harper's Conservatives.

He had previously been elected to serve the same constituency four times as either a Conservative or a Progressive Conservative. However, he quarrelled with his party and voted against a budget bill in 2007 because he said it denied Nova Scotia benefits promised in an offshore revenue deal.

The Conservatives kicked him out of their caucus as a result.

'Outstanding Nova Scotian'

Nova Scotia Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil is both pleased and puzzled by the decision to have Casey in Ottawa as the province's chief lobbyist.

"He's certainly an outstanding Nova Scotian," McNeil said.

"I find it strange that the premier, though, is asking him to be our voice when the prime minister of Canada kicked him out of his own party. Those should be interesting conversations that take place between our federal representative and the prime minister."

Defence Minister Peter MacKay, a Nova Scotia MP and Atlantic Canada's main voice in cabinet, said he has never clashed with Casey.

"In fact, what I would say is that relations between the federal government and the Nova Scotia government have never been better. It could not be better. We couldn't possibly improve upon the relationship between the Nova Scotia and the federal government," MacKay said.

"We've had an exceptional working relationship," he added. "I'll continue to work closely with all the members of the Nova Scotia government."

In January, Casey announced that he would not run in the next federal election, saying it was a tough decision but he was looking for a new challenge.

Nova Scotia officially opened its office in Ottawa in February 2006. Government officials said it was a way of ensuring that decision makers in the nation's capital understood the province's priorities.

Ian Thompson held the senior representative position before taking another job with the Nova Scotia government earlier this year.