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As Quebec confronts the novel coronavirus, the lessons of previous pandemics loom large.

A survey of legislative debates during the 1852 cholera outbreak and the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak shows that politicians were slow to react and that the legislative body took years to improve its public health policies.

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On Oct. 30, 1852, one day after the passing of Stanstead representative Hazard Bailey Terrill, the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada took up the issue of cholera.

John A. Macdonald condemned some of the assembly’s members for having been indifferent to cholera until one of their own was affected.

Opposition member Allan McNab suggested adopting a series of major measures before adjourning for three weeks.

Noting that cholera is highly infections, William Lyon Mackenzie argued that it was hard to force members to stay in parliament to address the issue.

Despite this rhetoric, a motion calling for the chamber’s adjournment was defeated by a 41-15 vote, explains historian Christian Blais of the Bibliothèque de l’Assemblée nationale du Québec.