Last night was the first all-candidates debate of this election in St. Catharines airing on Cogeco cabel TV.

Probably the biggest shock that came out of the debate was Rick Dykstra, after being grilled about his party’s decision to raise taxes on income trusts, admitting that his party broke it’s promise not to tax income trusts and apologizing for adding taxes to income trusts after promising not to.

“We made a commitment. We didn’t keep that commitment, and for that I apologize to the people of St. Catharines who were impacted by that decision.” (Federal Election Candidates Debate, Cogeco, September 23, 2008)

This is the first real sign that Rick Dykstra is trying to run away from the record of his party. As Jim Flaherty, Stephen Harper and the Conservatives have been completely unapologetic about flip-flopping on income trusts.