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By Jennifer Ditchburn, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - For anyone who wonders why the New Democrats and the Liberals never seem to want to talk about a merger, try spending a little time with them on Parliament Hill these past two weeks.

The recent allegations of personal misconduct levelled by two unnamed female NDP MPs against two of their Liberal counterparts has added another layer of frost to the long-standing animosity between the two parties.

Each camp is accusing the other of playing politics with the issue, and the cases themselves seem to have suddenly taken a back seat to the rivalry.

"As frosty as it might have been before this, there is anger right now between the two parties, and that's new," said Rob Silver, a Liberal activist and Toronto consultant.

"People are really, really upset between Liberals and New Democrats on how this has played out, which is a real shame."

After Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau announced Nov. 5 he was suspending MPs Massimo Pacetti and Scott Andrews from caucus, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair suggested Trudeau had revictimized the women by acting publicly.

The Liberals countered by saying they had no choice but to act. If they did nothing, the argument goes, the NDP might have later attacked them for it.

"I don't think that the finger-pointing and the politicization of this harassment issue is helpful at all, and I think Canadians expect more from both parties from all parliamentarians to solve it, and solve it well," said Kathleen Monk, a former aide to NDP leader Jack Layton.

In a nutshell, the two parties don't like each other much.

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Brrr! Frosty relations between Liberals, NDP