Lewis' announcement landed ahead of JEAN CHAREST's anticipated formal campaign launch at a Calgary brewery Thursday. His three-word slogan: "Built to win." The former Quebec Liberal premier has faced an early onslaught of turncoat criticism from supporters of Poilievre, who was the only declared candidate in the race until Tuesday. Poilievre officially launched his campaign, with his "For prime minister" slogan, just over a month ago. Conservatives choose their new leader in 26 weeks and 3 days. There's a bit of a spring sprint for prospective candidates. The deadline to officially enter the race is April 19. ADVICE, UNDISPENSED — Campaign preparation forced Charest to bail last-minute on a planned panel appearance Tuesday at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute's annual state of trade conference. Panellist JOHN MANLEY shared some advice he received when he retired from federal politics in 2004 — and chuckled about it not getting to Charest in time. "I wasn't given the opportunity to give him the advice that was given to me after I left government, which was: Lie on your back, breathe slowly anytime the urge comes to go back in. And in due time, it'll pass," the former deputy prime minister said. "Good for Jean." DISPATCH FROM TEXAS — Alberta Premier JASON KENNEY and the province's Energy Minister SONYA SAVAGE were on the ground in Houston when President JOE BIDEN announced a U.S. ban on Russian oil imports. "It's very frustrating down here when we see the U.S. administration reaching out to Venezuela, talks with Iran, discussions and thoughts about the U.S. president going over to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia when we're right next door," Savage told Playbook during a call in between meetings at Tuesday's CERAWEEK energy conference. Energy security, climate change, electricity, affordability and reliability are themes Savage said she's hearing on the ground. Biden's ban means the roughly 200,000 barrels of oil and 500,000 barrels of petroleum products imported from Russia daily will have to come from elsewhere. Canada has rarely been mentioned by U.S. officials as a first-choice market to increase oil and gas imports. (Provinces and territories have jurisdiction over energy production so any conversations would have to be with the provinces.) — $130 barrel incentive : A senior Biden administration official told reporters Tuesday the import ban is an opportunity for Wall Street and oil and gas companies to "step up." More from POLITICO: Boom time for oil producers as high prices pad profits, but gasoline spike brings warnings. — Pride and politics : Savage said for the U.S. to come to their northern neighbor, to Alberta specifically, to ask for an increase in barrels is akin to admitting they were wrong. There's some political exposure to consider, Savage said, the U.S. government would have to account for Biden's cancellation of Keystone XL. The pipeline would have carried 830,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta to Gulf Coast refineries. — Energy security enters the chat: Countries facing critical energy crunches related to Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN's war in Ukraine are unlikely to get immediate relief from Canadian energy supplies. Western Canada has four major crude oil export pipelines and no export facility for liquified natural gas that's currently operational. "We have to be able to get both the federal government, Canada and the United States, out of the way so that infrastructure — cross border infrastructure — can be built," Savage said. "That's the biggest challenge." THE FIFTH MUSKETEER — The backdrop was Latvia's Ādaži Military Base. Soldiers milled around parked military vehicles in the background while snow fell on four lecterns set up outside for Latvian PM KRISJANIS KARINS, NATO Secretary General JENS STOLTENBERG, Spanish PM PEDRO SÁNCHEZ, PM JUSTIN TRUDEAU — and National Defense Minister ANITA ANAND. Trudeau and Anand announced an early extension to Operation REASSURANCE, Canada's contribution to NATO military mission in central and eastern Europe, which was set to expire next year. A senior Canadian official told POLITICO's ANDY BLATCHFORD after the event that the exact duration of the extension will be announced at a later date. The government, the official said, wanted to move quickly because the extension was the top request of Canada from both Latvia and NATO. Trudeau spurred an appetite for more details after being asked if he would be willing to go to war. His answer was as close to a "yes" without saying the word explicitly. "I know I can speak for all NATO members when I say we will all abide by Article Five," he said, referencing the Washington Treaty's principle of collective defence. WEF ICES RUSSIAN LINKS — At least six Davos regulars are now subject to personal or organizational sanctions from Western governments, POLITICO's RYAN HEATH reports. They include HERMAN GREF — chief executive officer of Sberbank, which has been sanctioned by the U.S., U.K. and Canada. Greg is no longer listed as a member of the World Economic Forum's board of trustees. Deputy PM CHRYSTIA FREELAND , who sits on WEF's board, helped lead the push to eject Russian banks from SWIFT. A spokesperson for Freeland told POLITICO: "Canada will continue to work in lockstep with our partners to sanction President Putin and his hangers-on for their unprovoked and barbaric invasion of Ukraine," adding "we encourage international organizations to do everything they can to support these efforts." Read more from Ryan: Davos freezes out Putin and Russian oligarchs.
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