Hey There Dawn - I have worked in administration in Centre care and helped to open two centres in different cities in Ontario ... IMO the best place to start would be to approach your Provincial licensing agency and ask for their pamphlet 'considering opening a childcare centre what do I need to know' ... it will tell you everything you need to know from creating a business plan with things like setting fees and staff salaries as well as zoning, regulations and so forth.

I am only familiar with the Ontario Day Nursery Act so your regulations could be different ... here in Ontario if you do not have your Early Childhood Education and are wanting to open a centre you would have to HIRE an RECE approved by the Ministry who licenses centres to work as your Director/Supervisor to help you write up all your policies procedures and help with the start up and so forth ... unfortunately there is a reason why 'centre based' childcare is rarer than 'home childcare'... because it is an EXPENSIVE endeavor to under go, takes a lot of time and energy and government hoop jumping to even get OPEN and then once you ARE open there are so many rules to offering it that at the end of the day you end up making the same or less than if you just stayed home and offered home childcare which is just WAY more fulfilling and less stressful to do

Have you considered instead of 'going big' just opening up a smaller day home???