The son of a woman whose death last month was linked to the nationwide listeriosis outbreak is calling for the firing of Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz.

Dennis Schroh's mother, Elizabeth Schroh, died on Aug. 24 at the age of 82. She was a resident of a nursing home located in the riding Ritz represents as a member of Parliament.

Schroh told The Canadian Press he was upset when he found out that Ritz had joked about the deadly outbreak during a conference call with scientists and political officials just six days after his mother's death.

In that conference call, Ritz said he hoped the Prince Edward Island victim of a deadly listeriosis outbreak was Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter.

Ritz also said: "This is like a death by a thousand cuts. Or should I say cold cuts."

At the time, 12 people had died from the outbreak, including Elizabeth Schroh. At least 17 deaths have been linked to the Listeria outbreak.

"It's something a person should not be saying at this time at all. It's not a joke," Schroh said from his home in Swift Current, Sask., on Thursday. "I mean I wouldn't say that about anybody."

It has not yet been determined whether listeriosis was an underlying or contributing factor in Elizabeth Schroh's death, as she was also suffering from a blood disorder.

Nevertheless, her son says he's convinced it was what killed her and put her through an agonizing death.

"I never want anybody to see somebody die like that again in my life," Dennis Schroh said. "The way she was wailing and flinging her arms and everything else. It was pain. Nobody should go through this again. Simple as that.

"I wouldn't wish it on anybody."

He said it's now up to the leader of the Conservatives to fix what has happened, since Schroh doesn't believe the apology Ritz issued was sincere.

"If Harper is the right kind of person to run this country, he's got to do the right thing and get rid of this minister. Simple as that," Schroh said. "There's no doubt about it in my mind. It is going to affect the outcome of the election.

Union alleges food safety cuts

The fallout from Ritz's comments came on the same day a public-sector union alleged that a re-elected federal Conservative government would pull out of meat inspection programs in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia.

According to the Public Service Alliance of Canada, a secret report from the Treasury Board of Canada released this past May proposed that they could save $3 million by cutting federal meat inspection programs.

Patty Ducharme is the union's national executive vice-president. She told The Canadian Press that if a re-elected Tory government makes the proposed cuts, consumers would be the ones who pay.

"Meat produced in provincially registered facilities would not be inspected," Ducharme said. "Under this type of a scenario, consumers would have to count on the fact that producers would produce their products in a fashion that ensures their safety."

Harper sticks by Ritz

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper stood by his embattled agriculture minister Thursday despite the growing chorus for his resignation over controversial remarks he made about the deadly Listeria crisis.

On Thursday, Harper said Ritz recognizes the comments were "completely insensitive and unacceptable."

He said Ritz was under a lot of stress at the time and the comments aren't indicative of his performance as a minister.

"I think this story is obviously very embarrassing for him, very unfortunate. But it shouldn't detract from the good work that he has done to get on top and to understand this matter, to improve the system and to communicate publicly with Canadians and to make sure government officials are all doing their jobs," Harper said.

"It's obviously embarrassing but he's been doing a good job on this file and I applaud him for apologizing completely and forthright."

News broke Wednesday that Ritz had made the comments during the call with scientists, bureaucrats and political staff.

Later that night he made a public apology and called Easter to explain what he had said, and offer him a personal apology.

On Thursday, Easter said the remarks were callous and insensitive, but he didn't demand the minister's resignation over the comments about himself.

Instead, Easter said he wants Ritz to resign over what he said is his general poor performance in the job.

Easter called for Ritz's resignation several weeks ago over his handling of the Listeria outbreak, which was linked to a Maple Leaf Foods meat processing plant north of Toronto.

"We still stand by that resignation call but it's not related to this comment about myself. So we want to go to the performance of the minister and not politicize this particular issue because this call for his resignation was made prior to the election call," Easter told CTV's Canada AM.

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said Harper had no choice but to take "responsibility" and fire Ritz.

New Democrat Leader Jack Layton has also demanded Ritz's resignation.

A spokesperson for the Prime Minister's Office said Ritz expressed his regret to Stephen Harper on Wednesday, but there was no suggestion of his resignation.

"A resignation was not offered, nor was one asked for," PMO spokesperson Kory Teneycke said.