Excerpts from the Open Letter: Dear Mr. Harper: As you prepare for a new session of Parliament, we are writing to urge you to keep the interests of children and their families at the forefront of the agenda. Campaign 2000 is a broad, non-partisan coalition that represents hundreds of thousands of Canadians from coast to coast to coast. Campaign 2000 will want to see concrete commitments to the reduction of child and family poverty and to the development of a system of early childhood education and care services in this next session. It's critical that the federal government takes the lead, because far too many children and their families still live in poverty. Campaign 2000 will be releasing our 2008 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty to the public on Nov. 21st, and we call on you to work with all levels of government and civil society to adopt a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy. Without action from your government, the current economic downturn means that poverty rates will increase.