Royal visit? Royal pain? Or royal biker salute?

Controversy erupted this week over the cost to the federal provincial and territorial governments of providing security for the Royal honeymoon, the estimates of which are currently coming in somewhere north of $2.3 million.

As a closet monarchist, I am firmly on the side of cheerfully paying the freight for the Royal visit, just because they are royalty. I am, however, interested in some of the other arguments being advanced in their favour.

Many argue that the couple will be accompanied by a huge contingent of press, who are bound to file glowing reports about the beauty of ye olde home and native land, and such publicity is bound to spin off economic benefits to Canada. It's a small investment in security in order to reap a large economic benefit, say the proponents.

It’s interesting, because it is almost identical to a pitch that I made to the Salmon Arm Council last week, in support of a slightly different event - the Sturgis North motorcycle rally and classic rock festival, a noisy and exuberant celebration of the biker lifestyle and rock music. The event promises some big economic benefits for the city, but at the expense of some additional security costs… and so the battle is joined.

At the policy level it makes for an interesting discussion. What is the role of government at any level to provide security at public expense for private events, or private individuals? We find various governments falling on different sides of the issue. Events such as the Williams Lake Rodeo, the Armstrong Fair, the Salmon Arm Roots and Blues Festival, are not required to contribute to the cost of their own policing, so the civic fathers must deem the benefits to outweigh the costs. Merritt, on the other hand, receives an estimated $23 million in direct economic benefit from the Merritt Mountain Music Festival and sticks that event with over $120,000 in extra policing costs.

Other municipalities, such as Vancouver, which host a wide variety of special events, parades, political demonstrations, rock concerts and sporting events, do make an effort to recoup some of the additional costs from event organizers. But consider: if - as seems likely - the Canucks make it to the second round of the playoffs, or, dare I say it, to the cup itself, the City of Vancouver won't be handing Orca Bay entertainment an invoice for the extra policing costs of the victory celebrations, will they?

It is a difficult issue, since government, especially municipal governments, are being fiscally squeezed like never before, and do have a legitimate interest in controlling their costs, but at the same time have to be cognizant of the fact that special events of all stripes bring a galaxy of intangible benefits to a community. I mean, how do you put a price tag on an opportunity to ogle Kate Middleton?