After he retired in 2002, he studied to become a real estate agent and broker of his own company Mike Farnan Realty in Cambridge.
[5] The NDP were the official opposition in this period, and Farnan served as his party's critic for Correctional Services and Tourism and Recreation.
[6][7] The NDP won a majority government in the 1990 provincial election, and Farnan was re-elected by a landslide in Cambridge.
[11] In the spring of 1991, he became involved in a minor controversy concerning two letters which had been sent from his staff to Justices of the Peace in Ontario, one of which requested the review of a case.
This was seen by some as inappropriate interference from his office, and while Farnan did not write the letters himself, he was nonetheless dropped from cabinet on July 31, 1991.
[16] The NDP were defeated in the 1995 provincial election, and Farnan lost the Cambridge seat to Progressive Conservative Gerry Martiniuk by about 5,500 votes.
[17] He ran a second time for the House of Commons of Canada in the 1997 federal election, but finished third against Liberal Janko Peric.