If Justin Trudeau was hoping for gratitude from Alberta for his plan to reignite the faltering Trans Mountain Pipeline, he must be disappointed.

Premier Rachel Notley is openly skeptical about the partial release of a federal plan to satisfy the deficiencies the Federal Court identified when it quashed the pipeline approval.

In a steely press conference last Friday Notley made it clear the federal plan revealed so far is not the one she would have liked.  Alberta would have preferred legislation to close any further loopholes in the National Energy Board process.

She put Ottawa on notice that Alberta will take the fight to the federal Liberal backyard if anything further goes awry.

"Our focus now is to ensure that the timeline is set in stone and if it starts to slip and the goalposts shift, I can assure that the voices of Albertans will be loud…We will hold Ottawa's feet to the fire."

"We are going to continue raising the import of this matter across the country in areas that the federal government has to be very concerned about and listening to," says Notley.

So far the Trans Mountain delay is going to be at least 22 weeks.  That's how long the federal government is giving a renewed environmental review into increasing tanker traffic associated with the pipeline.

Notley grudgingly admits that delay is about what was expected given the court decision.  But the feds still have to unveil their plan for renewed indigenous consultation.

The Alberta government is pouring a fair chunk of change into its campaign to win hearts and minds across the country, with billboards, newspaper and social media ads stressing that the pipeline isn't just about Alberta, but about jobs across Canada.  The home website for the campaign is keepcanadaworking.ca.

Canadians can expect to see more of that message, and hear more of it directly from Notley, in the coming weeks.  She may have some trouble having her voice heard above others clamouring for attention on the pipeline's fate, including a growing cacophony of alternative solutions to the current impasse.

Federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has come up with his own plan to restart the pipeline, which includes a handful of actions including legislated derailing of the NEB hearing process and court challenges.

Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, proposes a route and terminal location change to blunt the objections of First Nations most opposed to Trans Mountain.

At this point second guessing the federal government strategy could easily result in even more delays.

Notley is willing to grant that the file is up to the federal Liberals to solve, so she will wait out the current strategy.  But that won't stop her from escalating the tensions between Alberta and Ottawa to keep Trudeau's attention focused.

And she is opening the battle on other fronts.

This week Notley also came out swinging against Bill C-69, the proposed federal overhaul of energy regulations which Alberta contends steps on provinicial toes with its new process for major project approvals.

Alberta Energy Minister Marg McCuaig-Boyd and Environment and Parks Minister Shannon Phillips are heading to Ottawa to fight the bill, which is in second reading in the Senate.

Alberta's withdrawal from the federal carbon tax plan is also still in Notley's arsenal against Ottawa, with Alberta vowing not to sign back on to the strategy until Trans Mountain is back on track.

The Alberta government response on Trans Mountain has been dismissed by critics as nothing more than a war of words with little actual impact on Ottawa.  Provincial action on the federal carbon plan wouldn't have kicked in until 2021.

But the presence of an election in the offing for both levels ramps up the stakes in terms of just rhetorical weaponry.

Notley is fighting for her own political life, as she faces a provincial election in the spring.  But that still leaves her several months to point out Ottawa's failings before the electoral axe falls.

Notley was in a minority as a Trudeau ally on the federal-provincial scene.  Another premier ticking 'not good enough' in the federal Liberal box is bad optics for next fall's federal election.

Photo Credit: Jeff Burney, Loonie Politics