Money may make the world go round, but in politics it's emotion that powers the machinery. Fear, loathing and jubilation are among the tools that every successful political party uses to gain and retain power. This is not a Canadian phenomenon, nor is it a partisan one. Liberals, Conservatives, Democrats, Republicans, Labour, Christian Democrats… all have used emotion for political purposes. Elections have been won, leaderships obtained, and referenda passed not on the basis of logic, but on feelings. From the UK's Brexit to the recent ascent of Danielle Smith in Alberta politics, tapping the zeitgeist of the moment can yield rich rewards.I have spent the last 20 years in the political world watching these tactics be deployed again and again. My non-political friends often ask me questions such as, why do parties run those terrible attack ads? Or, why do they say things they know are not true when they really scare people? The answer, sadly, is because these tactics work.The phenomenon is not new but has been accelerated by the advent of big data and social media. By slicing and dicing voter populations into subgroups, and building silos in cyberspace, parties create an “us vs. them” mentality which discourages dialogue in favor of groupthink. Challenging this orthodoxy becomes near impossible, because it implies a loss of community.Instead of engaging in debate and dialogue, voters ask themselves: If everyone in my Facebook group supports the Freedom Convoy, will they hate me if I express a contrary view? What if I say something positive about a leader they don't like – will they cast me out?  The result is that there is no room for shades of grey, only black and white.Recently, I became a part of an organization called Centre Ice Canadians (CIC). CIC has pledged to approach politics differently. Since CIC is not a political party trying to elect candidates, we do not need to mobilize the politics of emotion. We have the luxury of discussing serious issues in serious ways, and focusing on solutions, not soundbites.As a nonpartisan organization, we can reach across aisles and operate in ways that a political party would never dare to. A perfect example of this is our Federal Budget Roundtable coming up on Feb 28th in Toronto. The event, entitled Policies, Priorities and Predictions will give people a look at how our tax dollars are spent and how they could be better spent.  And it features speakers from across the political spectrum and across professional boundaries: former Conservative Cabinet Minister Lisa MacCormack Raitt, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, Globe and Mail columnist Andrew Coyne, and Liberal economic advisor Tyler Meredith.With the support of our amazing board and Canadians from coast to coast to coast, CIC intends to bring events like this to every corner of our nation. If you would like to find out more about CIC, attend an event and/or join our mailing list, please visit our website at https://www.centreicecanadians.ca/Politics will always have room for emotion, but it has to strike a better balance. We need space for meaningful discussion that benefits all Canadians. At Centre Ice Canadians we are committed to create that space and be the voice of centrist common sense. We invite you to join us on this amazing project.Jordan Katz has been working on political campaigns for 20 years and is currently the Executive Director for Centre Ice Canadians