You may be referring to a decision that was made back in 2007, if I'm not mistaken, to put on auction a certain number of slots, and that took place. There were Canadian slots put out for auction internationally. I should point out that these were high-altitude communication slots—geosynchronous satellites, as opposed to the earth observation satellites, which fly at a much lower altitude. So these slots were related to communication satellites, as opposed to earth observation. But yes, I believe this decision was made and carried out under the chairman's Department of Industry at the time.
On May 13th, 2009. See this statement in context.