While on the surface it seems like this might be a small improvement over appointing nothing but party hacks, I am a little bit worried that the new Senators will use this as an excuse to "legitimize" the Senate.

One of the best things that could be said about the Senate under Harper, Martin, Chretien, Mulroney, Trudeau, etc. was that it was useless.  They were almost always just a rubber stamp which was a good thing because they didn't have any legitimate moral authority, by virtue of being appointed party hacks, to do anything else.

The thing is the new Senators are still being appointed by the PM based on political bias at least, if not necessarily partisan bias.  I still don't feel these new Senators have the moral authority to override the will of Canadian voters.