The Christy Clark government spent more than $350,000 on tweets, Facebook posts, Google ads and other online messages during last year’s bitter teachers’ strike.

The online campaign was directed under contract by KIMBO Design Inc., the same Vancouver “branding agency” that worked on Clark’s Liberal leadership campaign and designed the party’s logo.

When teachers went on strike last May, Clark called on the company again, this time to get the government’s message out to the public — at taxpayers’ expense.

The cost of the online onslaught is detailed in documents newly released under the Freedom of Information Act.

It included $74,445.77 on sponsored Facebook posts, $58,210.32 on promoted tweets on Twitter and $6,250 on Google ads.

The government also spent $167,553 on a “niche digital mobile display” to spread the government’s message on mobile phones.

Total price tag for the teachers’ strike campaign, including design and development costs: $352,644.39.

“Outrageous,” NDP education critic Rob Fleming summed up Wednesday. “This money should have been spent on education for our kids, not on propaganda and spin.”

The government could have bought 5,000 new Grade 8 science textbooks for the same amount of money, Fleming pointed out. Or 1,100 tablet computers. Or basic school-supply kits for 3,500 needy children.

“The government that claims it can’t afford to spend a penny more on education seems to have a bottomless well of money for advertising and spin,” he said.

But Education Minister Peter Fassbender said the online campaign actually focused on important information for parents affected by the strike/lockout that wiped out five weeks of classes.

Social-media messages directed readers to the BCParentInfo.ca website, which outlined the government’s position in the dispute and explained how parents could collect $40-a-day “education support payments” during the strike.

There was no public competition or tendering process for the specific campaign contract. Instead, the government said it selected KIMBO Design from a “list of approved suppliers” for urgent communications work.

KIMBO owner Kim Pickett has said working on Clark’s 2011 Liberal leadership campaign was the “biggest success” of her career.

“The sparkle in her eye and the way she presented herself when she entered a room was truly mesmerizing,” Pickett gushed about the premier in an interview with thestoryexchange.org, a website for women in business.

KIMBO Design was paid $666,905 for government work in 2013-14, Finance Ministry records show.

“The company appears to have seamlessly transitioned from doing partisan political work for Christy Clark to securing well-paid taxpayer-funded contracts from the Clark government,” Fleming griped.

But the government insisted KIMBO Design did excellent work for the money.

“We had a responsibility to clearly present the government’s positions and perspectives,” said Fassbender, adding “virtually every eligible family” signed up for the $40-a-day payments.

By the government’s reckoning, that’s a rousing success. The teachers’ union, which surrendered on key contract demands by the time the bitter strike ended, understandably sees it otherwise.

msmyth@theprovince.com

twitter.com/mikesmythnews