Montreal’s transportation giant Bombardier will lay off nearly 15 hundred of its employees in the UK. This is after losing the bidding war for new English trains with German rival Siemens.

The cuts will amount to nearly half of the workforce in its British manufacturing plant. This plant has been making trains since the 1840s and is one of the world’s largest rail manufacturing sites.

Trade unionists are afraid the remaining jobs in the plant will be lost after Bombardier’s last British contract finishes in 2014.

A Canadian ship attempting to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza was seized Monday night by the Greek Coast Guard. The ship, the Tahrir, had at least 30 Canadian activists on board.

The Tahrir was part of a flotilla of aid intended to penetrate the Gaza sea blockade and bring help to people in Gaza. Last week Greece banned all boats in the flotilla from leaving port, fearing that an incident similar to last year when a different aid mission ended in tragedy after nine Turkish activists were killed by Israeli forces, could happen again.

Nine Quebecers were appointed to the Order of Canada Thursday. Those include four Montrealers.

Alain Lefevre is a celebrated pianist and composer. Denis Marleau is an internationally renowned director and the founder of Theatre Ubu in Montreal. Jean-Claude Fouron is recognized for his contributions to the advancement of pediatric cardiology. He is also a professor at the Universite de Montreal. Pierre Nepveau is well known in literary circles as well as a retired professor.