Prior to 1945, General Andrew George Latta McNaughton had already made a name for himself as an army general, engineer, inventor, and cabinet minister. After 1945, McNaughton occupied a number of key international roles for Canada: at the United Nations, on the Permanent Joint Board on Defence, and on the International Joint Commission. Even though he became one of Canada’s most important diplomatic actors during the early Cold War period, this aspect of his career has been mostly ignored by international historians. This article examines McNaughton’s key involvement in the evolution of a number of Canada–US water megaprojects, arguing that his nationalism underpinned his approach to bilateral relations, which combined deep technical expertise with a willingness to publicly assert the Canadian national interest. McNaughton’s approach should be studied not only to better understand North American environmental diplomacy in the Cold War but also to draw from it several lessons for contemporary times.

1945年之前，安德鲁·乔治·拉塔·麦克诺顿将军已经以自己的名字出任陆军上将，工程师，发明家和内阁大臣。1945年后，麦克诺顿（McNaughton）在加拿大担当了许多重要的国际角色：在联合国，常设国防联合委员会和国际联合委员会。即使他在冷战初期成为加拿大最重要的外交演员之一，但他的职业生涯的这一方面却一直被国际历史学家所忽略。本文考察了麦克诺顿在加拿大-美国水上大型项目的发展中的关键参与，认为他的民族主义是他处理双边关系的基础，该主义结合了深厚的技术专长和公开宣称加拿大的国家利益的意愿。