Howie Mandel poses with Deal Or No Deal girls Jennifer Palamos, Jennifer Fletcher, Jessica Hebert, Hinde Rabbaj, and Barrie resident Sarah Jackson, who won the Toronto casting. (David Lucas, Sun Media)

Howie Mandel isn't Loonie when he sizes up the cash rewards in Canada's version of Deal Or No Deal.

"The million-dollar prize (in Canadian dollars) is worth more, right, because I think here in Canada, you don't have to pay tax on winnings, is that correct?" the Canadian comedian asked yesterday during a media conference at a downtown Toronto hotel.

The assembled crowd answered in the affirmative.

"You end up with double in Canada what our winners end up with in America," said Mandel, who is the host of Deal Or No Deal. "This actually is a bigger prize than the American prize, way bigger, because they get hit for 50% right off the bat."

So let's get this straight ... Canada is a tax haven?

The groundbreaking nature of that concept notwithstanding, the popular game show is breaking ground in Toronto today with the taping of the first of five all-Canadian episodes. Taping will continue tomorrow and Thursday.

FOLLOWS SUPER BOWL

The Canadian version of Deal Or No Deal will make its TV debut on Global immediately following the Super Bowl on Feb. 4.

If you ever have seen Deal Or No Deal, you know that beautiful models with briefcases have a large part to play. Following a model search for the Canadian edition that took place in five Canadian cities and attracted thousands of hopefuls earlier this month, the five winners were revealed yesterday.

They are: Sarah Jackson (a 29-year-old resident of Barrie who won the Toronto competition); Hinde Rabbaj (Montreal winner); Jessica Hebert (Winnipeg winner); Jennifer Fletcher (Calgary winner); and Jennifer Palamos (Vancouver winner).

"There was fantastic coverage in the media and a friend of mine called me up and said, 'You have to go for this,'" said Jackson, who found out she had won on the day of the Toronto casting call (Jan. 12) but had to keep it quiet until yesterday.

"It definitely was tough to keep a secret, although I did, because we were bound to a pretty tight contract. You want to share such fantastic news with all the people you care about, so that was kind of tough. But now we actually can tell the world."

Jackson is a real-estate salesperson who actually studied welding engineering technology. Yes, this is a true Flashdance story.

"That's what everybody compares it to," she said.

Looking at the fab five winners yesterday, Mandel quipped, "I don't know why I left this country. And wasn't it amazing to find five women wearing the exact same dresses and carrying briefcases?"

The fab five winners will join 21 models (and two spares) who were cast privately for the Canadian shows. The local models who were hired are Amanda Perreira (Whitby), Brittany Gray (Pickering), Candace Edwards (Toronto), Jennifer Cooper (Pickering), Jessica Rimmer (Coldwater), Jessica Romano (Toronto), Jill Clark (Mississauga), Laura Pilotte (Pickering), Lilette Wiens (Toronto), Megan Lindley (Hamilton), Michelle Lindo (Brampton), Nora Kwong (Toronto) and Tenika Davis (Newmarket).

Producers have promised that the Canadian set for Deal Or No Deal will be as elaborate as the American set, if not more so.

"The Beachcombers set a precedent in production that we have to one-up," Mandel said.

"I'm going to be standing on a leaf, so that's different. Did I give away something?"

Mandel tapped his Canadian roots again when asked to name his favourite game show of all time, besides Deal Or No Deal.

"It would have to be Definition," said Mandel, referring to the Canadian show that ran in the 1970s and 1980s. "I loved the dancing silhouette.

"It was just an exciting show. You'd win some bed sheets from Eaton's."

A million bucks is way better than that, Canadian or American.