You make party proportional voting sound like a bad thing. But people absolutely vote for parties in this country despite a structure that appears to be centered on local individuals. If parties are bad, then ban them, and truly focus the vote on the local riding candidates. If you're not willing to do this, then the system needs to be changed. 

MMP, it bears pointing out, focuses equally on party and local individual representation. As a system it helps remove some of the contradictions in our present system.