Half-lives of the low-lying yrast states of $^{212}$Po have been measured using the delayed coincidence fast-timing method. We report on the first measurement of the $4_1^{+}$ half-life, as well as a new measurement of the $6_1^{+}$ half-life with improved accuracy compared to previous studies. The extracted lifetime of the $4_1^{+}$ and $6_1^{+}$ state have been determined to be 100(14) ps and 1.66(28) ns respectively. With these measurements, precise values are now available for the reduced transition strengths B(E2) of all ground state band levels in $^{212}$Po up to the first $8^{+}$ state, in particular B(E2; $4_1^{+}\to 2_1^{+}$) = 9.4(13) W.u. and B(E2;$6_1^{+}\to 4_1^{+}$) = 8.7(15) W.u. Comparison of the new available data with an α-clustering model calculation provides evidence that the inclusion of the α-cluster degree of freedom significantly improves agreement with experimental data compared to earlier shell model calculations.