Angel >> Mordecai Richler So he wasn't the warmest guy you'll ever meet and admittedly some of us have seen the movies but not yet finished reading all the books. And, yes, his children might get in our faces a bit too often. But Montreal owes a massive debt to its best-known novelist, who remained loyal to the city he helped shape with acerbic wit, clarity of vision and insight. Plus, it was always fun to watch this fearless iconoclast inspire helpless rage among petty-minded rigid thinkers blindsided by his trademark, articulate attacks.

Insect >> Canada Lands In a recent dream, Montrealers saw green grass fields, a fence and lithe young athletes chasing balls in the summer sun against a gorgeous background of skyscrapers and urban vitality. Thanks to Canada Lands, the downtown baseball stadium at Peel and St-Jacques is now totally and utterly dead. This week, the coldhearted bureaucrats sold the site to True North Properties, a Quebec company hiding in Edmonton, where they slap together hideous concrete condos that look like the innards of a Pez dispenser.