there are over 150 municipalities in british columbia. they are divided into cities, districts, towns and villages, according to their population at the time of their incorporation. there are also three other municipalities that were incorporated for special purposes. these are the resort municipality of whistler, sechelt indian government district, and bowen island municipality. with the exception of the city of vancouver all municipalities attain their legislative powers from the local government act (formerly the municipal act), which is being replaced, in phases, by the community charter. the city of vancouver obtains its legislative authority from the vancouver charter.