A bit.
My colleagues at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada would definitely be able to give you more details. Right off the bat, though, I would say that the program wasn't intended solely to encourage francophone immigration. Among other things, it helped promote francophone immigration to minority communities. The decision was the result of broader public policy immigration objectives, in terms of how temporary immigration is handled, particularly seasonal workers.
The decision to eliminate the program stemmed from problems that came to light in 2013-14 involving temporary foreign workers, and it had the unfortunate effect of overriding the component designed to promote francophone immigration.