Conservative leadership candidate Kellie Leitch says she will withdraw federal funding for public transit from cities like Toronto that declare themselves sanctuaries for illegal migrants.

“One law for all is a Canadian value,” Leitch tweeted last week. “‘Sanctuary cities’ will be ineligible for transit funding if I am PM.”

Under sanctuary city policies — also adopted by Montreal, Hamilton and London in Canada — municipal governments provide services to illegal migrants, regardless of their immigration status.

Under the “don’t ask” policy of sanctuary cities, they make no effort to ascertain anyone’s immigration status.

Thus property taxpayers are conscripted into paying for municipal services to people who are not in Canada legally.

It’s a huge problem. There are an estimated 200,000 to 500,000 undocumented foreign workers in Canada, while the Canada Border Services Agency has lost track of 44,000 people, mostly failed refugee claimants, who disappeared rather than comply with removal orders.

Declaring themselves “sanctuary cities” means municipal governments are throwing in the towel on these issues and encouraging the presence of illegal migrants.

That said, the primary responsibility for this lies with the federal government, not municipalities, which is why Leitch’s policy is premature.

What we need first, as Leitch and others have been calling for, is for the federal government to get control of Canada’s borders.

Because of our lack of border controls, cities like Toronto have been flooded with illegal migrants, in addition to the increase in Syrian refugees here legally because of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s immigration policies.

That’s prompted Mayor John Tory to ask Ottawa for increased financial assistance in caring for the growing number of refugees now in the city’s shelter system, because their federal funding ran out after a year.

We disagree with Tory’s support for Toronto’s sanctuary city policy, which he says is necessary to ensure Toronto remains a place of inclusion that fights against Islamophobia and other forms of bigotry.

But we agree that cities like Toronto — where most migrants and refugees, legal and illegal, end up living — face higher costs because of federal immigration policies developed in complete isolation from municipal governments.

That, and Canada’s porous borders, must be addressed first, before considering federal penalties to discourage municipalities from turning a blind eye to immigration fraud.