http://www.shawdirect.ca/promotions/english/digitaltransition/default.asp?WT.mc_id=DTV
and also

http://freeat33.com/free-television-with-shaw-canada-ltss/

As it sounds like you live in rural area outside of Moncton, you're likely a prime candidate for this program.
Shaw's web site is a little cryptic as what LTSS is all about, but if you Google it further you'll see lots + lots of people have benefited from it.

We currently receive CBC French channel and Global OTA. My question, if CBC Saint John has been shut down, why is the CBC French channel still OTA?

Moncton is an originating station for Radio-Canada, so its (digital) transmitter stays running. Saint John and Moncton are not originating stations for CBC, so their (analog) transmitters were shut down. There's CBC Fredericton, CBC Charlottetown and CBC Halifax as the closest over-the-air transmitters. Beyond that, you're either getting cable/satellite or watching whatever you can online.

it forced people to subscribe to services such as cable and satillite which the CBC then gets paid for.

The CBC doesn't get paid for people's cable/satellite subscriptions, unless you count subscription fees for CBC News Network and RDI.

That's pretty much one way to view it. That sort of "portability" that use to be there in the past is long gone for the days when I would be watching stations clearly while my dad ran his Kenworth semi truck down the highways.

See what happens when you shut us Americans out!

Of course demand for something is going to decrease if one can no longer get it. This is the only way the CBC can grab some cash back from it's viewers because (and I believe the % is much much higher than the 2% claimed) it forced people to subscribe to services such as cable and satillite which the CBC then gets paid for.

"Death throws for the CBC"

Also the CBC ratings have been slowly declining for years as they continue to loose bids to carry relevent programming and have lost most of the one thing they were good at (Sports). By shutting down these transmitters I can pretty much guarantee that HNIC will be canceled before the 2014 - 2015 season as the only reason the NHL even considers them is because they were the only broadcaster that could transmitt all game awarded to every house in Canada regardless of if they had a subscription based service or not. If revenue from HNIC goes I can not see the CBC surviving much past that point.

So by not turning those analog transmitters digital I feel the CBC has signed its own demise as anything relevent to Canadians, which is a shame to a once proudly Canadian institution.

2 - Locate the Signal Meter in your TV. Use it to help you point or place the antenna in a sweet spot that will allow you to get a strong signal.

3 - You may need a pixel drop compensator if you are in a difficult position. Look at these items. Read up on what they do.
http://overtheair.saveandreplay.com/Distribution_amps.asp

4 - Here is also a site that offers good selection of TV antennas. Use it to compare antennas. Read the data specs on each one. This will help you to figure out a good model to buy. Or not buy. Check prices over at amazon.ca as well. Shop around.
http://www.saveandreplay.com

5 - Ask around for what other people are using for their OTA set-up.

6 - You can install a outdoor antenna indoors. You can buy a small TV antenna tri-pod to mount the antenna indoors next to a window. Or mount the antenna on a wall next to a window.

7 - Also, as was mentioned, you might have a overload. That means that the signal is way too strong for your TV's tuner. So, perhaps a more low end TV antenna set up would be best. Try moving your current TV antenna away from a window. See how the signal meter reacts. Also, don't place an antenna close to electrical devices. It can pick up the signal noise off these devices.

8 - Can you post a link of the current TV antenna you are using?

9 - Don't forget that most TV channels in Montreal are broadcasting on UHF. So, you need a antenna that can handle UHF. Only CFCF and CFTM are on VHF now. CBMT (CBC) is actually transmitting on UHF channel 21, but re-maps to 6.1 in order to associate to it's old analog channel number.

Well, in Outremont in downtown Montreal we can barely receive any digital channels over the air. CBC channel 6 is the worst sinner in this department. But every channel cuts out, stutters, goes blank, etc.

If you're having problems receiving CBC television from there, it's not the fault of the transmitter, which is putting out more than 100,000 watts. Maybe your TV is being overloaded? (Try disconnecting the antenna and see if it still works.) Or maybe the TV's tuner is faulty.

Digital over-the-air television has been a complete screw-the-consumer so they move to cable pile of bull crap.

What isn't framed here is what percentage of the population will lose out in this deal. The numbers are really, really small here, the transmitters in many cases were only addressing a few hundred people, and many of them have alternate means to view TV (dishes being the most common). When the numbers get really worked out, I suspect we are looking at something that MIGHT touch 10-20,000 people, and most of them could easy be moved forward to the late 20th century and set up with alternate reception means.

Heck, CBC could do a deal with Bell and Shaw to have at least 1 CBC channel always come up for free on their sat systems, even if a receiver is not completely activated. End of issue for almost everyone.

Moreover, as you noted, 90% of people have cable, sat, or IPTV services in Canada, and the availability of at least one of those services is effectively 100% of the population or just about. You can almost always get some sort of sat TV, even in the very far north - just need a much bigger dish to amplify the signal.

It should also be said that OTA is a business model swimming against the current: Even with "local content matters" fees on your cable bill, the reality is that paying to broadcast OTA is nowhere near as profitable as getting paid to hand a signal to a distributor cable company to sell. With forced coverage, it pretty much clears the deck when it comes to making money. Simply put, eliminating most of the broadcast infrastructure, while maintaining direct contact with 90%+ of your viewers is a win, no matter what.

Where I am living now I have wonderful IP TV service, super HD, and many, many channels to choose from. Can you guess that I am not in Canada anymore?

And costs. They got their digital converters for old sets, or have newer sets with digital built in.
And the aging population don't watch as much TV as they used to. Teens never do.

I am waiting for the Conservative governments offer of reception inplants to all citizens, purely for entertainment, of course.