GTE rejected a bid for its Canadian phone interests.

First City Financial, a financial services firm controlled by the Belzberg family of Canada, had sought majority interests in British Columbia Telephone and Quebec Telephone. “First City proposed to repatriate these Canadian assets at a price which it believed represented their fair value. GTE declined to enter negotiations,” a spokesman for First City said. Consistent with GTE’s announced divestiture of other foreign assets, First City expressed an interest in acquiring the majority interests for cash, the spokesman added.