For decades, the Vancouver Aquarium managed to beat back animal-welfare activists' efforts to ban keeping whales, dolphins, and porpoises in captivity.

The aquarium's key supporters over the years were pillars of the Vancouver establishment and the federal Liberal party. They included Jimmy Sinclair, a long-time North Vancouver MP and the grandfather of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Sinclair was fisheries minister when he opened the aquarium in 1956 with mayor Fred Hume.

A major benefactor of the aquarium for many years was money manager Richard Bradshaw. He was a long-time business partner of deceased former mayor and ex-Liberal MP Art Phillips. Phillips was married to former city councillor, former Vancouver Board of Trade chair, and former provincial finance minister Carole Taylor.

Yet another big supporter has been former provincial cabinet minister and long-time Alzheimer's disease researcher Pat McGeer. He's an ex-leader of the B.C. Liberals.

The Vancouver Board of Trade and Tourism Vancouver have also been strong allies of the aquarium.

They all admired the efforts of the aquarium's founding director, Murray Newman, to create a research facility and for displaying orcas to educate the public about these creatures. The revenues generated through ticket sales, school trips, and large and small donations fuelled the growth of this registered charity into a major Vancouver tourist attraction.

Some of this windfall was used to treat injured marine mammals, ensuring a steady flow of warm and fuzzy images and positive publicity on nightly newscasts about the aquarium's education, research, and conservation programs. Its Ocean Wise sustainable-seafood program has helped the aquarium make many friends in the restaurant industry.

Again and again, these influential citizens and their friends ensured that aquarium-friendly park candidates would be nominated by the NPA. This facilitated the expansion of the aquarium's footprint in Stanley Park.

But last night, the aquarium suffered a major blow when six park commissioners supported a staff motion to ban importing whales, dolphins, and porpoises into public parks. The board allowed the three remaining cetaceans to stay at the aquarium, but that's not going to mollify its supporters, who gathered by the dozens for a noisy protest last night.

If history offers any lesson, this vote by the board is not going to mark the end of this controversy.

There's too much money at stake and too much pride on the line for the aquarium's supporters to humbly accept this democratic decision of the board and adapt its operation to suit the will of most commissioners.

The aquarium's CEO, John Nightingale, has seized on the issue of "rescued animals" to advance his cause. And this has galvanized aquarium staff and supporters. They're spoiling for a fight.

These people could turn out to be the foot soldiers in any political efforts to try to elect a new board in 2018 that will reverse this decision. They no doubt feel betrayed by NPA politicians, who were elected to a majority in 2014 on the board to thwart the latest challenge of the animal-welfare crowd.

https://twitter.com/vanaqua/status/864315242783924224

There are two registered charities associated with the aquarium.

The fundraising arm, the Vancouver Aquarium Conservation Foundation, listed assets of nearly $2.5 million in its 2015 filing to the Canada Revenue Agency. The operating organization, the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre, listed revenues of nearly $41 million in 2015 from a variety of sources, including $28.4 million from the sales of goods and services.

It's highly likely that senior aquarium staff and directors of both registered charities will be examining legal options. There will be no shortage of funds available to hire the best legal minds that money can buy in Vancouver.

The aquarium can also take comfort in its prospects should a civil suit reach B.C.'s highest court, the Court of Appeal. Sixteen of its 21 members were appointed by the former Conservative government.

In recent years, it has issued high-profile establishment-friendly rulings in cases ranging from a teachers' contract to a major real-estate development on Richards Street. The chief justice, Robert Bauman, is a former municipal lawyer at Bull Housser & Tupper, so it wouldn't be a surprise if he appointed himself to be on any panel dealing with an interpretation of the park board's authority under the Vancouver Charter. After all, he's seen in the legal community as an expert on municipal law.

Had the B.C. Liberals fared better in the recent provincial election, the aquarium might have been in a position to get an amendment to the Vancouver Charter, stripping the park board of its power over the exhibition of animals in public parks.

That is unlikely to occur now that the Green park commissioners' political ally, Andrew Weaver, may end up holding the balance of power in the B.C. legislature.

Because it's a registered charity, the aquarium can't be seen to be engaged in partisan political activities. That's offside under Canadian tax law.

So it will have to let the foot soldiers, i.e. the demonstrators who've been roused by Nightingale, to take the lead in any municipal political efforts.

Last night, the aquarium tweeted that one park commissioner, Erin Shum, disagreed with the majority.

https://twitter.com/vanaqua/status/864329523080433664

Could she lead the charge to reverse the ruling in the 2018 election?

In late 2016, Shum took the extraordinary step of resigning from the NPA caucus, accusing her colleagues of bullying her and demanding obedience.

Shum's husband is former NPA backroom organizer and former B.C. Liberal candidate Gavin Dew.

At the time, it seemed odd that Shum and Dew would turn their backs on the establishment party, the NPA, given that Dew is a significant political player in Vancouver. He's been a lobbyist who has done work for Kinder Morgan. His livelihood is dependent, in part, on the goodwill of the establishment, including key members of the B.C. Liberal government.

But if there's another game afoot involving supporters of the aquarium, Shum's actions could be seen in a different light.

What if the aquarium's key financial backers have given up on the NPA and are looking for another political vehicle to take over the park board in 2018?

What if Shum and Dew will be part of a broader effort to create a new municipal party in time for the next election to accomplish that objective?

What if an initiative like this had the quiet support of major B.C. Liberals, including Christy Clark and Andrew Wilkinson? They're probably eager to punish Mayor Gregor Robertson for his opposition to the Kinder Morgan pipeline and his efforts to curb natural-gas consumption in Vancouver.

Robertson is also the bane of Canada's fossil-fuel industry. Oil and gas executives would be thrilled to see him and his party trounced in 2018.

Dew has been the NPA's expert in the political ground game and already knows what issues resonate with large numbers of Vancouver voters on the doorstep.

There would be no shortage of funds available to finance a political operation of this magnitude. Major players in the tourism and restaurant sectors would be ready to step up, particularly if they see their beloved aquarium's future on the line. The fossil-fuel executives and many Fraser Institute directors will also open up their wallets if they think there's a chance of taking down Vision Vancouver.

Under this scenario, the NPA could wither away like the old Socreds. It would be replaced by a more millennial-oriented political party that could be marketed as a pragmatic fresh face for Vancouver.

It would have oodles of money available to frame their opponents in the public mind as "environmentalists gone wild".

Keep an eye on Shum, Dew, and their friends. I have a hunch that this story is far from over.