OTTAWA — The defection of rising star Belinda Stronach to the Liberals has shaken the Conservative party to its newly planted roots, angering many around leader Stephen Harper.

The young, urban, moderate, female entrepreneur represented everything the Tories hoped would help them break through in Ontario, which holds a third of the seats in the House of Commons.

Her loss to the Liberal cabinet as human resources minister is a tragicomedy of Shakespearean proportions, said Medicine Hat MP Monte Solberg.

"It's an incredible story, it's got everything. With Peter (MacKay), the billions, the leadership, it's the stuff of books," Solberg said Tuesday.

MacKay had dated Stronach, heiress to a car-parts fortune, prior to the defection and Harper said Tuesday that his deputy leader was taking it hard.

Stronach's exit from the party was made under a hail of criticism from former colleagues and a demand for immediate payment of about $380,000 she is said to owe the party.

"The Blond Ambition Tour continues," said one party official of Stronach, who lost a leadership race to Harper barely 15 months ago.

The outstanding money is apparently owed to the party in the form of a fine Stronach was assessed for overspending during the leadership race.

"I don't believe it, I don't believe it," Harper communications director Geoff Norquay said as he watched television coverage of reaction to the announcement, adding a few expletives.

"And you can quote me on that."

The defection is especially bitter for Norquay, who worked for Stronach on her leadership campaign against Harper and considered her true to the cause.

If Martin looked elated at the announcement of Stronach's conversion, Harper looked positively deflated as he spoke of her defection.

"A number of our caucus members are feeling quite devastated and quite betrayed by this," Harper said.

Harper attempted to put a brave face on the development, saying he'd just told his spouse, Laureen, that he'd seen it coming.

"I told my wife only a few days ago that I thought it had become obvious to Belinda that her leadership ambitions would not be reached in this party regardless of whether or not we won the next election," Harper said.

"There are no grand principles involved in this switch in positions -- just ambition."

Some MPs worried about what election strategy and information Stronach might be taking with her to the other side of the Commons.

"We'd had confidential discussions and she had access to strategic information," Ontario MP Gary Goodyear said.

The stunning development happened on the same day Decima Research released a new opinion poll suggesting the Liberals and Conservatives are in a dead heat.

Decima's Bruce Anderson said the Liberals had 32 per cent of decided voters compared with the Conservatives' 31 per cent. The telephone poll was taken May 12-15, before the Stronach defection.

Decima said the results are accurate to within plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Anderson said Stronach's decision may "resonate with the significant number of voters who are against an imminent election, and uneasy about the prospect of Mr. Harper as prime minister.

"The reasons not to support these two parties appear to have more traction than any positive reasons to vote for either of them (and) this dynamic has not triggered a large shift towards the NDP or Green Party."