HALIFAX, N.S. — Longtime Nova Scotia MP Bill Casey, who has battled both his former party and cancer, has resigned his seat to take on a new job representing his home province's interests in Ottawa.

The Independent member for Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley will become senior representative for the province's Department of Intergovernmental Affairs effective Friday. "It is a fresh start for me and I am very much looking forward to getting started with this position," said Casey in a release.

"I feel like I have a lot to offer to the job. It is my hope that my experience and contacts at the federal government level will prove to be a strength. This is another opportunity for me to try and better my home province."

Sources said Casey resigned from his Commons seat earlier on Tuesday.

The Ottawa office opened in early 2006 to raise awareness and understanding of Nova Scotia in the nation's capital.

The position became open earlier this year when Ian Thompson left to take another position within the Nova Scotia government.

Casey, who has represented his northern Nova Scotia constituents in the House of Commons for more than 17 years, was booted from the Conservative caucus in 2007 by Prime Minister Stephen Harper for opposing his own party's budget proposals.

The veteran politician defied his boss because he said the budget changed the federal equalization formula - a move that gutted the 2005 Atlantic Accord on offshore oil and gas revenues.

Casey had already announced earlier this year that he would not run in the next federal election.

Premier Rodney MacDonald said Casey's experience on Parliament Hill will help the province to get things done on the federal level.

"He knows the key decision-makers on Parliament Hill," he said in a news release. "His experience in getting things done in Ottawa ... will be a huge benefit."

Casey was first elected in 1988 in the former riding of Cumberland-Colchester. He was defeated in 1993 but was returned to Ottawa four years later in 1997.