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OTTAWA — Alberta’s newly anointed premier, Jason Kenney, returned to Ottawa to start the fight against the federal government he promised during the recent provincial election campaign.

The former federal Conservative cabinet minister was appearing before the Senate energy committee Thursday, as part of its hearings into C-69, the Liberal government’s impact assessment legislation — what critics call the “No More Pipelines” bill.

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Kenney put on a bold face and played his hand for a hundred times what it was worth.

He said the bill will do lasting harm to Canada’s reputation as a place to do business and, if passed in its current form, would be subject to an immediate constitutional challenge by his government.

“It is an obvious and flagrant violation of our exclusive constitutional jurisdiction to regulate the production of our natural resources,” he said, citing section 92 of the Constitution Act to intimidate those who might rather stick hot pins in their eyes than read statutes.