The decision by the provincial government and Halifax Regional Municipality not to support Halifax’s bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games may have some short-term negative repercussions, but it was the right thing to do.

You might not think that an event held in Halifax would have that much of a direct effect on the Valley, and in terms of the competition itself you’d probably be right.

However, in terms of creating a long-term debt, hosting an event of this magnitude is literally the gift that keeps on giving. Just ask the folks in Montreal, who reportedly only earlier this year finally cleared the debt from hosting the 1976 Olympics.

There’s no question that we, and all Nova Scotians, would have been expected to pony up our share of the cost of the Games in that both the federal and provincial shares of the pricetag would ultimately come out of our pockets in the form of the taxes we pay.

Yes, there are advantages to hosting major athletic events, not the least of which is a legacy of infrastructure that will remain for the benefit of future generations.

This would have been the case in Halifax - and by extension, throughout Nova Scotia - the same as the entire Valley would have benefited if our area had gotten to host the Canada Winter Games in 2011.

What we need to ask ourselves, however, is if the positives in hosting outweigh the negatives; if the potential benefits, in terms of legacy and economic spinoffs, would be enough to balance the cost of the Games, pegged at $1.7 billion – in 2007 dollars – at last count and likely to rise far beyond that.

Fortunately, the powers that be, both at the provincial and municipal levels, realized in time that traveling down that road simply wasn’t the best course.

Some have suggested Halifax will suffer in the long run from the negative fallout of pulling out of the bid in terms of its perceived ability to host major events and the willingness of those who make such decisions to choose Halifax as a host city.

It can be argued that as long as Halifax keeps its sights within reason – a world junior hockey championship, a national or even world curling event, a national university sport championship, all of which it has hosted successfully – there’s no reason our capital city can’t continue to enjoy a top-notch reputation.

The trouble occurs when you bite off more than you can chew, which just may have been the case with the Commonwealth Games.

The Halifax region continues to grow, as reflected in the most recent census figures, but its population of around 380,000 is still not that large, even in Canadian terms.

The bottom line is there has to be a limit to everything, including the debt we should be asked to assume, and there comes a time when the best choice is sober second thought. We should give our provincial government credit for being willing to make that choice.