Former Justice Minister Marc Bellemare is dismissing the Bastarache inquiry into his allegations of judicial corruption as being a foregone conclusion.

He says you don't need to be a former justice of the Supreme Court, referring to commissioner Michel Bastarache, to be able to see the truth.

"To trust somebody, you don't need to be a former judge of the Supreme Court," Bellemare said. "You can be a lawyer, a teacher, a blue collar worker."

Bellemare telephoned several Montreal and Quebec City radio stations Thursday morning to spread that very message, that there was never any doubt that Bastarache would find his claims of undue pressure to be baseless.

The former Justice Minister went public last year with allegations that he was pressured by Liberal party fundraisers into nominating certain people as judges against his wishes.

Premier Jean Charest said Bellemare's public relations campaign was to be expected.

"Marc Bellemare knows how to play the media very well," Charest told reporters. "We all admit that?"

Bellemare, however, dismissed that claim as easily as he did the Bastarache report.

"You can decide," he told reporters, chuckling. "You can tell me if I manipulate you or not. I don't know, I have nothing to say on this. This is stupid."

Bastarache's 300-page report, issued on Wednesday, dismissed Bellemare's allegations, and said he exerted his own free will in the nomination of judges.

Bellemare says the commission was rigged against him, but he is sticking to his story.

Opposition thinks Bastarache was biased

Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois came very close to calling the credibility of Bastarache into question.

Thursday morning she said the report conclusions appear as if Bastarache ignored testimony about suspicious Post-It notes, lists of nominees, and visits to the premier's office.

"The real goal of this commission was to make a diversion because the real problem was not this problem," said Marois.

According to the opposition leader, the $6 million inquiry was a smokescreen to divert attention from Charest's refusal to call an inquiry into allegations of corruption in the construction industry.

"Mr. Charest was in a bad situation so he decided to do justice for himself," she said.

The first half of the report was used to dismiss Bellemare's allegations, but in the second half Bastarache makes 46 recommendations for changes to the process of nominating judges to ensure no undue outside influence is exerted.

"So where did he take the evidence that there was such problems of influence to have 46 recommendations, if he concludes there was no proof of influence?" asks PQ justice critic Veronique Hivon.

Charest and Bellemare are still suing each other for defamation, and what remains unclear is how Bastarache's findings will impact those civil proceedings.

Charest should move on

Meanwhile political analyst L. Ian MacDonald says the Bastarache report has vindicated the premier, but that the damage has been done.

"His disapproval rating is something between 70 and 80 percent," said MacDonald.

However, it is telling that Bastarache completely dismissed everything Bellemare said during his testimony.

"Essentially he didn't accuse [Bellemare] of lying , he just said [Bellemare] was delusional, and when you look at Bellemare that's pretty much his history," said MacDonald.

MacDonald said the premier should now concentrate on promoting Quebec's economic recovery from the recession, and consider retiring before the next election.