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You can’t turn on a TV set these days without getting blitzed by the onslaught of taxpayer-financed commercials touting Premier Christy Clark’s interest-free loans for first-time homebuyers.

The ads are receiving heavy rotation after the government nearly doubled its advertising spending late in the year — pumping it up to $15 million from the $8.5 million originally budgeted last spring.

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The government calls the ads “public information” designed to give people crucial details about the loan program announced by Clark on Dec. 15.

But if you think these ads aren’t timed to a political cycle leading to next May’s provincial election, you should give your head a shake.

Clark calls the loan program her personal highlight of 2016 and she said it will play a key role in her re-election drive in the new year.

“I think it will be a big issue in the election,” Clark told me in a year-end interview.

Photo by Richard Lam / PNG

“Putting $37,500 into people’s hands with a zero-interest, zero-payment loan for five years so they can get that down payment together for that first home — I think that makes a huge difference.”