"A significant piece of Canada's military history" be damned

What a crying shame:

A string of emails and several phone conversations later, the auction house unexpectedly told Simmons they received another offer from a local collector. The medals could still be his if he paid more than $17,000 and transferred the money "immediately," they said.

"It would have been doable in a week," Simmons said. "But not in one day."

Simmons said he "tried his best" and believes the medals could have been on the first ship back to Canada if there had been "goodwill from all sides."

"The people involved could've made it happen but it came down to the bottom line."

I know the seller was supposedly family, but this is just egregiously venal. These medals and memorabilia belong in Canada.