Interesting. Obviously it's a political move, meant to keep the attention on the Conservative senate scandal, because pretty-much all it does is severe ties between the senators and the rest of the party. Which is a shot at the ties between conservative senators and the PMO. By making this their policy, it ensures that senate reform will be an issue in the next election, and any time the Conservatives bring up this policy, there's going to be the reminder of the scandal. Even if the Conservatives have better ideas about senate reform, they also have so much baggage that it's an issue that they (or at least Harper) cannot win at it. I think that as much as Canadians want massive senate reform, I doubt most trust Harper to implement it.
While I agree that elected senates with term limits should be the goal, there are constitutional roadblocks against that. Separation between senate and the rest of the party is something that could be passed without constitutional challenges, I think. And it would be useful, simply not as useful as a senate overhaul.
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