Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has appointed four Lower Mainland Liberal MPs as parliamentary secretaries to cabinet ministers.

Three represent ridings that are entirely or partially on the North Shore.

Trudeau's grandfather, James Sinclair, was MP on the North Shore for nearly 20 years.

The parliamentary-secretary postings come with an additional $16,600 per year on top of an MP's annual salary of $167,400.

Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, who represents West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country, is parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs, Stéphane Dion.

This likely means that Goldsmith-Jones will respond in Question Period to some inquiries from the opposition MPs when Dion is not in Parliament.

North Vancouver MP Jonathan Wilkinson is parliamentary secretary to the minister of environment and climate change, Catherine McKenna.

Burnaby North-Seymour MP Terry Beech is parliamentary secretary for science. The minister of state for science is Kirsty Duncan.

Joyce Murray is parliamentary secretary to the president of the treasury board, Scott Brison.

Murray, who represents Vancouver-Point Grey, oversaw environmental issues in a former B.C. Liberal government cabinet when Gordon Campbell was premier.

Voters in B.C.'s second-largest city, Surrey, elected three Liberal MPs: Sukh Dhaliwal, Randeep Sarai, and Ken Hardie. None of them has been named as a cabinet minister or parliamentary secretary.

Vancouver, on the other hand, has two cabinet ministers (Jody Wilson-Raybould and Harjit Sajjan) and one parliamentary secretary among its group of four Liberal MPs.

Parliamentary secretaries are sometimes at the front of the line when prime ministers decide to appoint someone new to cabinet should any ministers falter or resign.

Trudeau also announced that his government will introduce legislation to "formalize the equal status of our ministerial team sitting around the cabinet table". Whether that means he will abolish the "minister of state" designation remains to be seen. As things stand now, ministers of state are paid $20,000 a year less than cabinet ministers.

Cabinet ministers receive an additional $80,100 and a car allowance of $2,000 per year on top of their MP pay.

Meanwhile, former Toronto police chief Bill Blair is parliamentary secretary to Justice Minister and Attorney General Wilson-Raybould.

UBC law-school graduate Arnold Chan was named deputy government house leader. He represents Scarborough-Agincourt in Parliament. He also receives a $16,600 annual stipend in this role in addition to his MP salary.